A key for a door, a weapon for a thief
by Fallen Into The Abyss
Summary: We all know Holly Short of the LEP. But would you recognize her as a teenager? She and three friends have to rid the world of a deadly weapon. Will they succeed? Not bloody likely, the way things are going.
1. Prologue

**A/N Artemis and co. are NOT in this fic. This is about what happened to Holly and her friends when she was 40 (I'm figuring that's 15 human years). Ancient prophecies, quests, mysteries and magic abound. **

**"Rí" is the Gaelic word for "king", pronounced [ree]. These diaries are set in a time when fairies still lived with humans, but the dates don't correspond with human dates. The kingdom ruled by these kings is what would now be Ireland. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the "construct" is in Ireland . . . hint hint hint. :)**

**My amazing beta reader just got back from holiday. I'd sent her up to Chapter 4 (yes, I actually pre-write. Scary, innit?) and I hadn't known she had web access, so she returned with a stack of papers for me and now I'm just reposting EVERYTHING, so you might want to read what I've done over again.**

**PROLOGUE**

Diary of Rí Conall III. Second Age, 1176 

"It is said that the most evil things in this world are often the most beautiful. It must be a survival trait. For who can destroy something beautiful? I can't. Not even when it threatens all that has ever been created. I can't".

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Diary of Rí Sameth I. Third Age, 207 

"Why can't I be rid of it? The curse and gift of my ancestors. And it shall be the curse and gift of my descendants as well. For I can't destroy it. I will hide it away, far from any prying eyes, grasping hands and greedy hearts. I will hide it and there it will stay until it is found or the one who can destroy it rises into power. There will be One who can. The prophecy cannot lie."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Diary of Rí Cahir II. Third Age, 999 

"It is done. I have completed what my father, Sameth the First, started. It is hidden away in a secret room in a construct, from where it shall not be easily taken. There are few things to protect it, but they will stop anything from coming through.

The only way anyone will find the construct, never mind entering it, finding the room and the thing itself, is by using a key, made by an artisan whose work has impressed me. I took him to the construct and told him to devise some method to hide the secret room using a key. He returned to his workshop to begin this task. Two months later, back at the construct, I was shown a solid stone wall where there had been none before. There were many beautiful designs carved in the stone, much like the rest of the construct.

Then the artisan handed me a flawless sphere, which sprang open at my command. Inside lay a beautiful pendant on a silver chain. The pendant was small, about the size of my thumbprint. Despite its size (I was expecting a large metal thing as the key), it was intricately decorated. Silver, in the shape of a triangle on its point, it was clearly Celtic with intertwining lines. The chain on which it hung was no less perfect. I was proudly told that 20 oxen could be hoisted into the air using this chain (I did not care to ask how he knew this). Almost unbreakable.

This pendant is the key to finding the construct and opening the secret room. I rewarded its creator handsomely, then had my most trusted wizard (who has known about the thing in the room as long as I have; we grew up together) place an unbreakable spell on the artisan. He will never tell anyone what he did for me, since he can no longer remember it himself. A cruel measure, I feel, but a necessary one. 

My curse and gift, that thing inside the room, has not been kind to me while I have been hiding it away. It holds power over me and my bloodline. I think that is why my father died early. I think I will die soon. It is furious at me and is punishing me severely for it. The pendant and its secret will pass to my son Sameth, named for his grandfather who also died for this thing that is killing me.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Diary of Rí Sameth II. Third Age, 1000 

"My father died a month ago. He left to me the pendant (named the Pendant of Halifirien for the place it was made. I'm told it is a little village in the middle of nowhere) and its secret.

I will not keep the Pendant, as my bloodline has shown severe weakness to the allure of the thing in the secret room. No, I will give it to one of my most trusted nobles, a duke from the north of my kingdom. I will tell him its secret and see that he knows to pass the Pendant and its secret down his line.

It is done. The duke agreed and now the Pendant belongs to another, stronger line, who can resist it. They know what may happen. They will do all they can to prevent it. I can only hope it is enough"

**A/N Here is a very short pronunciation guide, as I realize that some Gaelic words are impossible to pronounce for non-Gaelic speaking people :)**

**Conall = [cun-all]**

**Cahir = [care]**

**Halifirien = [hal-ee-feer-ee-en] (This isn't a Gaelic word, but my beta reader got it wrong, so I thought I'd add it in)**

** Be warned: there will be a few Gaelic names in this, so I'll be a pronunciation whatsit at the start of every chapter with iffy words in it.**

** The rest of the story after the prologue will be about Holly, Trouble, Foaly, Root, the LEP and the rest. **

**PLEASE tell me if I should make my chapters shorter. I think they're too long. You'd get updates more often, that way. REVIEW!**


	2. Nightmares Of Reality

**A/N REPOSTED CHAPPIE. The first scene takes place a few hundred years after the Pendant passed to the duke. It doesn't really matter where it is, you can make that part up if it makes you feel better :) Oh, and in the first book it says that Foaly had been pioneering inventions for a hundred years, so in this fic he's still a consultant for the LEP. I'll put all reviewish stuff at the end. **

**Pronunciation guide:******

**Caillas = [ky-as]******

**Cerys = [ser-is] or [ser-ay-s] (means cherry)******

**CHAPTER ONE **

The landscape is covered in wounds. Trees with sword marks gouged in them are all around. More trees, burnt black from furious spells, stand crumbling in the wind. A lone elf stands over the corpse of his enemy. The elf is tall, with black hair and grey eyes, nearing the end of the prime of his life.

The wind quickens and suddenly, an old elf stands across from the first elf. The younger elf looks up, sees the older elf, yelps and jumps back. The older speaks.

"Do not be afraid of me. You are Tarlang Caillas, are you not?"

"I am," Tarlang replies warily "who are you?"

"It is of no importance. Just know that I am a prophet. I know what happened here. You are lucky no humans saw you. The flashes from the spells could be seen half a mile away."

"I still defeated him" replies Tarlang, raising his chin defiantly. "Now I can destroy it" he says in a voice that says he has waited a long time for this moment.

"No, you can't" The prophet replies idly, examining the body of the fallen foe with great attention. 

"But he is defeated! It can be destroyed!" exclaims Tarlang in disbelief.

"Yes, it can be destroyed. But you can not destroy it." the prophet replies. 

 "I am not the One in the prophecy?" Tarlang asks, though it is more of a statement than a question. 

"No," the prophet says simply "The prophecy, made just after the Pendant was created, says that it will be destroyed by One to whom the Pendant belongs by blood, and who has defeated someone who tried to steal the Pendant. You have done these things, but you are not the One who can destroy the Pendant. If you try, you will be killed. If it comforts you, the one who can destroy it will be your descendant."

Tarlang smiles a little and then sobers as he tries to decide what to do. "I can't destroy this pendant-"

"The Pendant of Halifirien" the prophet interrupts.

"I know, " frowns Tarlang, then continues "I thought I was the one who can destroy it, but as it seems I am not, I must do something else with the Pendant" He smiles a bitter smile that makes the prophet stand up and address him in a gentle voice.

"You thought you were the One. I am sorry, but you are not. Even though you are not the One, you must still do what you can to prevent the Pendant from being found and used."

Tarlang nods and looks down at his clenched fist which holds the Pendant and replies slowly "I will hide it. It shall be forgotten. Better to have the thing in the room be undestroyed, remaining whole for all eternity, than run the risk of it being found by one evil enough to use it."

The prophet nods and says softly "Yes, that is a wise choice. But there is one other thing you must know. There is another prophecy . . . made just two days ago."

Tarlang understands suddenly and says "Made by you. That is why you are here. What is this prophecy? Please, tell me, so I can remember it"

The prophet nods and begins to speak.

"A sword for a warrior

A crown for a king

A key for a door

A weapon for a thief

The sun may be darkened

Yet the moon will shine through

All that is old does not have to break

All that is young does not shy away

Five souls will be bonded

Four bonded in alliance

One bonded in opposition

All will be bonded in risk

On a chain of moonlight

Rests a star of night

The key for a door

The object of our doom

Found it must be

By who it will depend

The four who seek to destroy it?

Or the one who will use it?

These four beings

Have each a gift

That will serve them well

And a part yet to be played

A reader to tell hidden feelings

A dreamer to dream what they must do

A protector to defend them from evil 

A caster to do magic to give them an edge

Yet this star most precious

Cannot be destroyed by any

Save the one to whom it belongs

By blood and ancient right

This one will be part

Of the bonded four

But who it is will remain

Untold until all is as foretold

For if they fail

And the star unleashed

The consequences

Are too dire to be told

For a day will come

When all will end

Our world collapse 

Our future depart"

As the prophet quietens, shouting can be heard in the distance. The two elves spin. They see that the dead enemy's minions have finally arrived on the scene and are searching for the one who fought and killed their master. The prophet turns to Tarlang and speaks fast, while drawing a sword that seems impossibly large to have been hidden beneath his cloak.

"You must go. Now. I will hold them. Hide the Pendant. Remember the prophecy. Tell no one where the Pendant is hidden, you hear? No one. Not even me. Ah yes, one more thing. If you ever have need of me again, my name is Amiel. Go!"

Tarlang nods and thanks Amiel quickly, before stepping away from the dead body and turning in the opposite direction of the fast-approaching goblins. His form fluidly changes shape, and in the beat of a heart, a hawk sits where Tarlang stood. The hawk takes to the air and flies towards the sinking sun. 

Meanwhile, the prophet is showing extraordinary strength and skill with a sword for one so old. He quickly dispatches several furious goblins, but fails to notice two goblins sneaking up behind him. One goblin (too stupid to have been trusted with a sword) knocks the prophet's legs from under him with a fallen branch. The goblin is quickly rewarded with a knock to the side of the head from the flat of the prophet's sword. Grinning, the other (slightly smarter) goblin raises his own sword over the winded prophet on the ground . . .

Several thousand kilometres away, sixty kilometres underground and four thousand years later, a young elf named Trouble Kelp woke up screaming. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Trouble sat up in bed just as his father and brother burst through the door. Mathias Kelp made straight for his son's bed, but Grub Kelp tripped over his big brother's skateboard, whacked his head off a nearby chair and lay on the floor, blinking at the ceiling. (Humans did not actually invent skateboarding; fairies had had it for at least a hundred years before the Mud Men. The idea really took off among humans when a group of fairy skateboarders messing around aboveground near Tara were seen by a few humans. As to why the fairy skateboarder were aboveground, all I can say is: the things people will do the weekend after graduation)

Mathias sat on the edge of Trouble's bed and said "Trouble? You OK? You were yelling and thrashing around."

"Yeah . . yeah, I'm OK, Dad. Just had a weird dream." replied Trouble shakily.

"Can you remember any of it?"

"Uh . . . no. Nothing." Trouble fibbed. He had a feeling that dreaming about ancient prophecies, pendants and prophets wasn't a normal or good sign. 

Mathias watched him for a moment, not quite believing him, until he finally replied "Well . . all right. I'm getting a bit worried to tell the truth. That's the third or fourth one this week. You can't remember anything from any of the dreams?"

"Nope. Nothing." lied Trouble.

"OK. Well, I'm going to go down to the kitchen for a drink. Since your brother seems to have concussed himself, I'll take him too. Coming?"

"Maybe later" Trouble replied idly, his mind on the dream.

"If you do come down, try not to wake your mother up."

Trouble snorted and replied "Mom could sleep through an earthquake."

Mathias looked his son straight in the eye and replied "She just about did". Trouble looked away and fell back against his pillow. Mathias walked over to where Grub still lay and pulled him to his feet, saying "We're going for a drink, Grub, all right? You look like you need something to wake you up a bit. Come on." He headed out the door, followed by a slightly cross-eyed Grub.

Trouble sighed and pulled a notebook and pen out of his beside cabinet. Computer screens gave him a headache if he used them right after waking up. He flicked through the pages. Six dreams in a week and a half. At least they weren't every night. He picked up the pen and started writing down what had happened in his dream. 

When he finished, he read over what he'd just written. This was the first time he'd seen the entire event played out all at once. Before, he'd just seen bits of it, but they'd all ended with a goblin raising his sword over him. Then he'd wake up, usually yelling. This was also the first time he'd heard the prophecy. He hoped he'd got it all written down correctly.

He sighed again and made a mental note to research this Amiel and see if he really had made that prophecy. He'd do it tomorrow after school. He brightened at the thought that tomorrow was the last day before the two week break celebrating frogs. The holiday had been declared by one of the last kings. The main reason the fairies got rid of the monarchy was that the last few kings inevitably ended up with corrupt, insane or both (a dangerous and extremely odd combination). So the fairies had gotten rid of the king in question (an insane one, obviously), but had decided to keep the holiday. Well, no surprises there.

Trouble turned off the light, lay back down and closed his eyes, hoping he wouldn't dream again. Both Amiel and Tarlang were somewhat intimidating. But before he knew it, Trouble was fast asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Holly Short! Get up out of that bed this instant, you will not be late for school!" came the yell from downstairs. Holly groaned and threw a pillow at the door. Note to self: go to bed earlier or have room soundproofed, she thought.

"Get up right now or so help me, I'll make you!" shouted Cerys Short to her daughter.

"Be interested to see that!" yelled back Holly.

"All right, I warned you!" There was silence for a few moments, then the sound system in the living room started blasting out an incredibly cheesy pop song. Holly screamed, jumped out of bed, ran downstairs and made straight for the sound system to turn it off, all the while yelling "No! Not pop music!"

"I knew _something_ good had to come out of all that rock, punk and whatever music you listen to" said Cerys in a satisfied voice, heading for the kitchen.

"Not funny!" yelled Holly from the living room. She could hear her father chuckling from the kitchen as he ate his breakfast. As she walked into the room, he looked up and smiled. 

"Actually, I thought it was hilarious. Must remember that as a blackmail method." grinned Captain Rowan Short of LEP Recon.

Holly glared and at him and replied "I would remind you that you are part of the LEP and are supposed to uphold the law."

His grin widened and he replied "There's no law that I know of against playing music to get a lazy child out of bed."

"One. I am not a child, I am 40 years old. Two. It was not just _any_ music, it was some tacky pop song. Three. I believe there is a law against traumatizing your child." 

"Stop acting so misunderstood and eat your breakfast." chuckled Cerys. Holly did so, while her parents discussed her father's work.

"You've been putting in a lot of extra hours lately, Rowan."

"I know. There's something weird happening lately. Foaly's gadgets have been picking up something in Haven with a thaum count that's way above what it should be." (**A/N I have shamelessly stolen the word "thaum" from Terry Pratchett. It's basically just a unit to measure magic.**)

Holly looked up and frowned. "What do you mean, his gadgets?"

"Well, you know that the LEP monitors any above ground magic. We measure the number of thaums and if somewhere there's more than there should be, someone is either doing magic, or has magic, i.e. a rogue fairy. But the LEP also monitors _below_ ground, to make sure that we won't be caught unawares by some evil fairy who's boosted his magic using some ancient spell or something."

"Oh, I get it. So ho much magic has this thing got?"

"A million thaums. A _million_."

"That's not possible. Even wizards have only a quarter of a million!" Cerys said disbelievingly.

"I know. That's why we thought it was an object, something created by some crackpot trying to take over the world or something like that. But we can't pin down its location and the Council absolutely refuses to allow us to make it public. They think people would panic."

"Understandable" commented Cerys.

"True. And now it's got even worse."

"How?"

"We found out it's alive. It's not an object, has to be some sort of fairy. Some trainee techie was messing around with the computers when he was on duty a few days ago and found he'd accidentally tuned in to the levels of the million-thaum thing. So he recorded it and gave it to Foaly the next day for him to analyze. Next thing we knew, Foaly'd ran screaming out of Ops holding a disk and raced off to find the Council. Once he'd calmed down, we found out that the magic of the thing was rising and descending _exactly_ as it does in fairies. Rises in the morning to get us going, drops during the morning as we wake up, peaks randomly when we cut ourselves or something and need to heal, and slows down when we're sleeping and don't need it. Exactly like a fairy. There's no other explanation."

"So there's a fairy walking around Haven with a million thaums stored in them? That would knock out and short-circuit all sorts of technology, though. Surely it'd be easy to find them?"

"It should, but the magic hasn't knocked anything out yet. The fairy's not _using_ the million thaums, it just _has_ them. Foaly reckons there'd be minor effects every now and then. Little things. A computer crashing. A bulb blowing. Glass shattering. Things like that."

"So it's almost impossible to find the fairy."

"Exactly. And then, three days ago, Foaly's machine picked up another entity with a million thaums in Haven."

"Frond."

"Our thoughts exactly. So now there's two of them. We're hoping it's coincidence and not something that's spreading."

Holly looked up and said to her father "You always say there's no such thing as coincidence. Everything happens for a reason."

Cerys and Rowan smiled and he replied "True, but this time I'm hoping it is." Holly nodded, then took her plate and glass over to the sink. She turned to go back upstairs to get dressed. She was halfway out the door when her father spoke.

"Oh, and Holly?"

"Yup?"

"The LEP would greatly appreciate it if you'd keep all that quiet. We don't want a city-wide panic."

She nodded. "Sure thing, Dad."

"Thanks. By the way, see any suspicious glass shattering, exploding light fixtures or crashing computers, come get me."

"Will do." Holly grinned and headed upstairs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sarah Nightshade was standing on the corner across the street form Holly's house when the front door flew open and a whirlwind came out, yelling "Bye Mom! Bye Dad!"

Sarah watched as the whirlwind continued across the street towards her. When it was a foot away, she calmly stepped to the side and stuck out an arm, with a "Hey Holly."

Holly bounced off Sarah's arm, stopped and then replied "Hey Sarah." They started walking down the street. 

"You're late."

"Sorry. Went to bed too late."

"I know. My computer was beeping from the e-mails you were sending way after I went to bed."

"You sound like my mother."

"You e-mail your mother? When you live in the same house?"

Holly sighed. Sarah was like this. Extremely short attention span. "_No_, Sarah. Never mind. You do the homework?"

"What homework?"

"Never mind."

"OK. Got any food? We ran out at home."

Holly rolled her eyes and dug through her backpack for some of her lunch, which she then handed to Sarah.

"Thanks. I forgot to go shopping yesterday and Grandma's still mad at me for getting that detention last week that meant I couldn't go home and play poker with her and her friends, so she won't go."

Holly smiled. Sarah lived alone with her grandmother. Her mother and father had been dating for a few years when all of a sudden her mother had just up and left her father, who knew nothing of Sarah's existence until the morning his ex-girlfriend showed up on his doorstep, handed him a baby girl and walked away, never to be seen by either of them again. Sarah's father had died abut 20 years ago, leaving her alone with her grandmother, an elderly pensioner just as eccentric as Sarah. 

But despite everything, Sarah and Holly had been firm friends since they started school together.

As they walked along, Sarah suddenly asked "Are we going to the skate park after school?"

Holly (who was a pretty good skateboarder) was teaching Sarah how to skateboard in the skate park near their school. This was complicated by the fact that Sarah, quite simply, had road rage. Anything that moved was a weapon when controlled by her. She was hell on wheels. Sarah on a skateboard was one of the most hilarious things Holly had ever seen. Holly grinned and nodded emphatically

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Holly and Sarah ran into class just as the bell rang. They headed for their seats in the back corner, greeting their friends as they walked through the aisles between the desks. They slid into their seats, took out their laptops, booted them up and sat back to wait for the teacher.

Holly noticed that Trouble, a friend of hers who sat at the desk on her left (Sarah sat on her right) was looking extremely sleep-deprived.

Puzzled, she turned back to her laptop and accessed the fairy Internet (which had all the Mud Men's websites as well as the fairies'), logged on to her e-mail account and sent Trouble an e-mail.

**From:** recon_red@hvn.net

**To:** mostly_harmless@hvn.net

**Subject:** You

**Message:** What's up? You look v. blah.

She sat back and waited for a reply, hoping Trouble was on his e-mail account. Sure enough, she got a reply back almost straight away.

**From:** mostly_harmless@hvn.net

**To:** recon_red@hvn.net

**Subject:** Re: You

**Message:** Well spotted and well put. Had almost no sleep last night. I keep having weird dreams. Must be eating something odd.

Holly was about to reply about the cafeteria food being a bio-hazard, maybe that was it, when the teacher stormed in the room and slammed the door, yelling "Short! Kelp! Nightshade! To the headmaster's office _immediately_!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

**That was actually something like a cliff-hanger. I'm getting better. Thanks to Mage Kitty for allowing me to nick Holly's e-mail address and to aly for thinking up Trouble's. **

**Reviews:**

**Lutefa: Thanks for the encouragement, I'm putting up this chapter because the last one told readers hardly anything about the real story. Just the one chapter, mind. You'll have to wait a bit longer for the rest of the story**

**Butterflybabe515: Thanks :) Same thing as above.**

**Boogalaga: Thank you veddy much for the offer of help and for the support. I'm just posting this chapter, unless I am inundated with reviews begging me to continue it straight away. Which is about as likely as someone being asked to burp the greatest hits of Barry White at Carnegie Hall and having NBC buy the story rights and turn it into a docudrama. I stole that from a Dilbert comic xD. Oh, they're hilarious. Sorry, I'll shut up now.**


	3. Shattered Findings

A/N REPOSTED CHAPPIE. In this chapter, we meet Foaly and Root. I love writing Root, he's hilarious :) Please excuse the unimaginative names of the random people in this chapter (headmaster etc) because I have about zero creativity. Thank you. I'll shut up now.

CHAPTER TWO 

As the three of them sat waiting outside the headmaster's office, they had a hurried whispered conversation.

            "What did you guys _do_?"

            "Recently? Nothing"

            "I've done _nothing_." Short pause. "That I can remember."

            "Me neither. Some one has to have done _something_ or we wouldn't be here."

            "I threw a cactus out my window at someone yesterday."

            There was silence as Holly and Trouble looked at Sarah. Holly, who had had more experience with Sarah than Trouble had, said carefully "Did you?"

            "Yup. Dunno who it was. He was making not so nice comments about the state of my garden. So I threw a cactus at him. I ran away right after I threw it, so I don't know where I hit him, but he made some interesting noises I didn't think possible."

            As Sarah set about trying to imitate the noises the poor fairy had made, Trouble and Holly looked at each other, then shrugged and went back to wondering what they'd done.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Inside the office, Headmaster Cedar sighed and shook his head. This had to be the strangest thing that had happened in his entire career as a headmaster. It had been a normal morning until the caretaker had run, gabbling, in to his office. And apparently these three children were to blame. He shook his head again and looked at the door to his office.

            He'd had it custom made, being paranoid as only former teachers can be. It was actually a two-way mirror. From the hall, it looked like a really big mirror on hinges, but from inside the office, it just looked like a plane of glass. He could see everything going on outside. Very useful. He got up and stood in front of the door, peered closer and examined the three children sitting outside, trying to figure out who was who.

            Sarah Nightshade. He'd heard about her from the staff. Very odd child. She must be the one with dark brown, almost black, hair and green eyes, talking to herself. The blue-eyed boy with curly brown hair had to be Trouble Kelp. So the girl he was talking to, with short auburn hair and hazel eyes, was Holly Short. Kelp and Short looked a bit worried and very confused. Hmm, either they were innocent or very good actors. Nightshade seemed totally unconcerned and was making a noise that sounded like a cat being murdered by a woodpecker  He shrugged, opened the door and said "Come in."

            When they were all seated in front of his desk, he fixed them with a stern look and said "Mr. Beech, the school's caretaker, has come to me with a very strange story. He says he was walking across the front lawn this morning right before the first bell rang, towards the school gates, when he met Kelp running towards the school in a hurry, followed a few minutes later by Short and Nightshade in even more of a hurry. Understandably a little confused, he headed for the gates to find that the security booth had been almost destroyed." Here he stopped and gave them all a hard look before continuing.

            "The computers and security cameras had crashed and everything made of glass in the booth had been shattered. Now, can you tell me why you were seen running away from the scene of the crime moments after the crime had been committed?"

            The three just stared at him until Sarah said in a voice that said she was worried about the headmaster's mental health, "We were running towards the school because we wanted to get to school." 

            Before Sarah could do any more damage, Holly broke in with, "We had nothing to do with that! We didn't even know something had happened until a minute ago!"

            Trouble chipped in. "Yeah, we didn't even come to school together! I was running to class because I was late and Holly and Sarah were probably running because they were even later. I didn't vandalize anything!"

            "And neither did we." Holly said very firmly, to which Sarah nodded emphatically. Cedar watched them for a bit, then sighed and said "I believe you. But you were the last ones on the scene before Mr. Beech. What did you see as you ran past?"

            Trouble frowned, trying to remember, then said "It was fine. The windows weren't smashed or anything." 

            Holly and Sarah looked at each other, then Holly said slowly "It was fine when we ran past too. Windows were whole and everything."

            Cedar nodded and said "So the culprit must have struck right after you two left and before Mr. Beech arrived. That gives him a window of opportunity of approximately 90 seconds."

            There was silence until Holly's eyes widened and she asked quickly "Headmaster, what damage did you say was done?"

            He gave her an odd look, then checked the computer screen in front of him. "Hmm, let's see. Everything made of glass was shattered and the computers and security devices all crashed."

            Holly nodded, a faraway look in her eyes. "The glass shattered." she murmured to herself. By now, Cedar was looking quite scared of all three of them, as Sarah was still making weird noises and Trouble was staring off into the distance and muttering to himself. Suddenly, Holly leaned forward and whispered to the headmaster so that the others couldn't hear her (not that they'd noticed) "I know this sounds weird, but could you try and make one of them," she indicated the other two with jerk of her head "mad? Maybe not Sarah, she's insane, so can you try and get Trouble mad?"

            Cedar was by now totally confused, but nodded anyway. "Any special way to get him angry?"

            "Accuse him of the crime. And anything else that's happened recently. Say you don't believe him when he denies it. He's really touchy about his honour or pride or whatever it is."

            Cedar nodded again, leaned back and cleared his throat, getting Trouble's attention and an angry glare from Sarah, which he ignored. He focused his gaze on Trouble and said "Well, young elf, what do you have to say for yourself?"

            Trouble was totally flummoxed and replied, very intelligently "What?"

            Holly tuned out of the argument and started trying to get Sarah back into the world of the sane, but she wasn't coming without a fight. Finally, Sarah was willing to talk to Holly and Holly was just explaining her plan to Sarah when Trouble suddenly started shouting.

            "I don't care what you think, I didn't do any of that!" And then Cedar started yelling along with him. He'd make an excellent actor, thought Holly. Suddenly, something changed. The air around them started crackling, then every single thing in the room made of glass exploded with a deafening crash that made them all dive for the ground. The door just collapsed into a million tiny pieces. The computer made an odd beeping noise then shut down with a whirring sound. 

Holly stood up and announced to the room at large "I was right! One of us _has_ got an overload in magic! Trouble must have accidentally destroyed the security booth when he ran past because he was annoyed that he was late." She looked around and found that Sarah was the only one listening. Trouble was unconscious (no doubt from the magic overload) and Cedar appeared to have been hit on the head with a tile that had fallen down from the roof.

Sarah stood up too and said "Impossible."

"What?"

"It can't have been trouble who wrecked the booth. It was fine when we ran by, remember?"

"Frond, you're right. But Trouble obviously has a lot of extra magic." They surveyed the room. 

"Understatement of the century." Sarah commented.

"So, if Trouble didn't do it, who did?"

"It's quite simple, Holly."

"Well, I don't get it!"

"Let's think about this logically." Holly stared at her, but Sarah was totally serious. 

Sarah continued, not paying any attention to the weird look she was getting. "Trouble has extra magic. Good. Or not so good actually. But anyways. It doesn't matter if he has extra magic or not. He was definitely the one who wrecked this office, but he couldn't have wrecked the booth. So, out of us three, he's eliminated. _Therefore_, one of us two has to have extra magic and _therefore_ has to have been the one who wrecked the booth."

They looked at each other.

"You feel any different?"

            "Nope. You?"

            "Nope."

            Holly said "I know what we should do now."

            "Dispose of the bodies?" 

            Holly gave her another weird look and said "No, we have to call someone who knows what to do about all this extra magic." She took her cell phone from her bag. She picked a number from the saved numbers list and hit the dial button.

            "Dad?"

            "Holly? Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

            "Yeah, but never mind that for a minute. Y'know those million-thaum fairies? What's happening with them?"

            "There's four now."

            "Good gods."

            "That was our reaction too. So, why are you calling me when I should be trying to find these fairies and you should be working in school?"

            "I _am_ in school. And I've found at least two of the fairies you're looking for. Maybe three." There was silence from her father for a few seconds before he replied.

            "You sure?"

            "Dad, a security booth and the headmaster's office were both almost demolished. Glass shattering, bulbs going, computers crashing." There was another short silence.

            "Where are you?"

            "Headmaster's office."

            "Stay there. Don't move. I'll be right over with a team."

            "Sure thing. Bye."

            "Bye"

            Holly hung up and surveyed the wrecked room. She checked to make sure the headmaster really was unconscious, then swore until she felt better.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Twenty minutes later, what appeared to be half the LEP Recon unit arrived on the scene, ordered everyone to stay in their classrooms and headed for the headmaster's office, lead by one Rowan Short. 

            The first one in the room was a Sergeant, who came in with Neutrino raised and pointing around the room. The glass crunched under his feet as he walked on it. He saw two teenage female elves, looking bored and playing poker, beside what was obviously the headmaster and what appeared to be the source of the escaped magic, judging by all the sparks buzzing around his body. He lowered his gun and said "D'Arvit" The rest of the team came in (thinking that if he dropped his guard it must be OK) and their reactions were pretty much the same, except for some more, ah, _colourful _language on their parts.

            Ten minutes after that, some of the glass had been swept away and the techies had arrived on the scene, along with Commander Root. After a few highly-charged encounters with irritated teachers, they arrived at the office. Root saw Rowan and barked "Short, good, you're here. I was dreading that it might be some rookie who got here first. No tact, some of them. GET AWAY FROM HERE THIS IS AN LEP CRIME SCENE GO BACK TO YOUR CLASSROOM AND LOOK AFTER THOSE SO-CALLED STUDENTS OF YOURS!" This last sentence was directed at a teacher who had just poked her head through the door to see what all the fuss was about

            After the teacher had been gotten rid of, Foaly came through the door carrying a large case of something. 

            Root nodded and said "About time, pony!" Then he turned to Holly and Sarah and said "I'm Commander Root, this is Foaly. He's a techie and smarter than we'll ever be, so just believe anything he says until he starts mentioning budgets." He turned to Rowan and Foaly and said "Now. Explain. What the hell happened here and why are these two kids playing poker in the middle of it?"

            Rowan held back a smile and said "Well, you know those million-thaum fairies that we've been picking up? About half an hour ago, Holly, my daughter, that one," pointing unnecessarily at her, she was the very image of him, right down to the grin, "phoned me and said she thought she'd found at least two, maybe three,  of the million-thaum fairies. I got Foaly to do a scan and there were indeed three million-thaum fairies on the school grounds. So I got a team and came straight here. The room is destroyed because Holly, trying to figure out which one of these three," he indicated them " was the million-thaum one, made the headmaster," he indicated the unconscious Cedar "get Trouble," he pointed to Trouble "mad, because as we all know if we have too much magic it tends to overflow when we get really annoyed or angry. And look what Trouble did." 

            They all looked around the room and gave a collective grimace. Root nodded and said "So we know for sure this Trouble has a load of extra magic?" Holly and Sarah rolled their eyes. Root glared suspiciously at them.

            "What?"

            "We saw him do _this_ to a room in about half-a-second flat and you're ask if we know for sure?"

            He glared at them and said, louder than was necessary, "Foaly! Get a thaum count on this kid!" Foaly pulled something out of the case and held it in front of Trouble. He let out a low whistle and shook his head.

            "Well?!?!" demanded Root

            "This guy here," he tapped Trouble on the head "has been walking around with one million thaums." They were all silent for a minute. Sure, they'd heard it before, but then it had just been a number. Now it was a gutted room. 

            Root turned his attention back to Rowan "You said three?" Rowan explained about the security booth. Root nodded and said "Foaly! Thaum count on these two!" He pointed at Holly and Sarah, who gulped and unconsciously took a step back. 

            Foaly walked forwards with the thaum-counter and said reassuringly "It doesn't hurt. You don't even feel anything." He held the counter in front of Holly and announced "One million even". Rowan groaned and muttered "My own daughter. Saw her everyday and never even noticed." Then Foaly moved on to Sarah and said "One million and one."

            There was silence in the room except for the crunching of glass under the feet of the techies examining the room. Then Root said "OK. We're gonna have to take these kids back to Police Plaza and find out what the hell is going on with them, their magic and why. Foaly, that's your job. Rowan, you and your team try and find the fourth fairy. Oh, and Foaly, contact the other two's parents, tell them where their kids are."

            They all nodded. Just then, a sprite skidded into the room, panting. "Commander! We've found him!"

            "Who?"

            "The fourth fairy!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Root spun around and yelled "Then where is he?" 

            "We . . . we're chasing him."

            "You're CHASING him?!?!"

            "Yes, because, well, we were securing the perimeter and we were walking through the skate park beside the grounds and there was an elf there, skateboarding, he's about their age," he nodded at Holly and Sarah "and then my partner said, well, we've got the video feed if you'd like to-"

            "FOALY! GET THE VIDEO FEED ON!"

            "All right, all right, all right. Going." He set up a laptop and soon was playing a video on it, using the disc the sprite had handed him.

            "OK, we're up and going. Right, what we're seeing happened five, no six,  minutes ago and is coming from the camera in the helmet, right above the-"

            "SHUT UP AND WATCH!" That was Root, obviously.

            They watched as the camera walked towards the skate ramps. There was a solitary elf there, a guy, doing tricks on his board. A voice said "Hey, do a thaum count."

            "What? On the kid?"

            "Yeah, the other three are kids, the fourth might be too. Hurry up, before he notices us." A thaum counter was held in front of the screen. One million thaums. The two sprites didn't bother with subtleties. One drew his Neutrino and pointed it at the kid while the other yelled "Hey! You! Kid! Don't move!" 

            The elf looked up. He looked around forty, like Holly, Trouble and Sarah. He had black hair, in spikes, and was dressed, like Trouble, in skateboarding clothes. Unlike Trouble, he was conscious and slightly confused as to why this random sprite was pointing a gun at him. 

            "What's with the gun? I haven't done anything." His accent was hard to place, part Haven and part something else. 

            The sprite with the gun, demonstrating a complete lack of people skills, raised his Neutrino, set it to stun and fired at the kid on the skateboard, making everyone watching groan. But the elf somehow managed to do a backwards somersault in midair and still landed on his skateboard, missing the shot. By now, the second sprite had reached him and was attempting to use his buzz baton on him. Unfortunately, the elf had other ideas for him. He ran his board halfway up the side of the ramp, and then swung it around so the sprite got clobbered on the back of the head and dropped like a stone. 

            The elf turned to the shocked sprite with the Neutrino and yelled "Look, I'm really sorry about that, but will you please stop shooting at me?!?!"

            "Don't move, kid! I'm warning you! I'm not afraid to use force on you!" 

            "What, like he did?" replied the elf, nodding his head at the concussed sprite sprawled on the ramp. 

            Ignoring the last comment, the sprite with the gun turned to see back-up racing across to them. "One last warning, kid! We're Haven's finest!" Everyone watching either groaned or laughed. Sarah was almost in hysterics. Back on-screen, the skateboarder had abandoned his board and was climbing the ramp. As the back-up swarmed towards him, he gave it one last try. "Look, will you all please use the forgotten gift that is common sense?!?! Ah, never mind. I'd like to apologize to all of you in advance for this!" He jumped off the ramp and landed on a sprite.

            They immediately turned on him, but because of their closeness, they ended up whacking each other with their buzz batons. The elf dispatched the few who got close to him with a couple well aimed punches. When a path was clear through the scrum, he ran off. Then the video feed went out. Everyone looked to the sprite, who said in an embarrassed voice "Someone hit it with a buzz baton and it short-circuited"

            Root groaned and stared at the ceiling. "All right. Where is he now?"

            "He was running in the direction of the school. We think he's hiding somewhere here, pretending to be a student."

            "You idiot, he _is_ a student, in case you hadn't noticed! He can't be older than 40 and yet he managed to beat up and escape a team of Haven's finest!"  

            The sprite winced at the use of the last two words then asked "What do you want us to do, sir?"

            "FIND HIM!" roared Root, nearly deafening them all. "But do not, I repeat, DO NOT try to attack him again. Just tell him the truth and try and get him back here. Understood? THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? GET GOING!"

            The sprite ran out of the room, followed by half the Recon team. Holly turned to Root and asked "Can I go too? He might trust someone his own age more." He nodded. Rowan nodded too and said "Be careful."

            Holly rolled her eyes. "Dad, he's my age."

            "You saw what he did to that team."

            "They were  . . ." she trailed off when she saw what Foaly was doing. He was urgently making signs, telling her to stop talking, pointing to Root, pointing to her, and then miming slitting his throat. Holly cleared her throat and said "Anyways . . . I'll be going. Sarah? Coming?"

            "No, I'll stay and play Solitaire." Everyone gave her odd looks, but she didn't notice. Holly shrugged and walked out into the corridor. Now, if I was running from the LEP, she thought, and was hiding in a school, where would I be? She wandered around and then it hit her. They'd _expect_ her to mingle with the students. So they'd look in the classrooms. That's what they were doing now. So she'd be hiding in the administrative part of the building. She turned a corner onto a deserted corridor that lead to the staff room and offices. She stopped at a corner. She'd heard something. She poked her head around the corner and saw the black-haired skateboarder pulling himself through an open window. I am a genius, she thought.

            She waited until he stood up fully, then turned the corner and walked towards him, taking him by surprise. They stared at each other for a few seconds. He was taller than he'd looked on camera, about Trouble's height, a bit bigger than her and Sarah. Close up, she saw he had a silver cuff at the top of his right ear, a piercing in the bottom of the same ear and two more piercings in his left ear. He had strange eyes, too. Green-blue, with a thick silver ring around the black bits in the middle. She grinned at him and started talking.

            "Hey. I'm Holly. No, I'm not going to shoot, attack or try to arrest you, in case you were wondering." He just looked at her, obviously not trusting her.

            She sighed and continued talking. "The LEP isn't trying to arrest you. Those sprites were just mental. Listen, this will sound insane, but bear with me for a moment. There's this thing happening to some fairies where their thaum level rockets. There's four fairies walking around with a million thaums. I know, seems impossible, but I'm one of them, my two friends are two more, and you're the fourth. We've gotta go to the LEP so they can sort it all out. My dad's a captain. Look, come with me and I promise they won't arrest you. Please?"

            He looked at her for a while longer, his instincts screaming at him.

            _"What are you thinking? She's no street kid, she doesn't trust you, you can see it in her eyes! She's a decoy the LEP sent after you! Run you fool! Before they throw you into some boarding school you won't return alive from! Just like the others. Just like Matt, just like-"_

            "Shut up!" he told himself furiously, steering his mind away from those memories. He didn't know why, but something deep down, past his heart, past his soul, maybe it was fate, told him to follow her. He sighed and glared at her, making Holly wince.

            "Fine. But first sight of a gun pointed at me or cuffs waving, I'm outta here."

            "Have it your way. Come on. This way." She motioned for him to follow her to the office. He asked himself again why he was doing this, but set off after her.

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Boogalaga: *Author has big grin on face as she types this* Thank you very much for all your encouragement and all your compliment . . . ation? Whatever the word is. As for Holly and co. being young, they're gonna stay this age all throughout my story. We never hear of Artemis or them. Unless I decide to put in some spooky foreshadowing in this one bit. Hmm, that's actually a pretty good idea. Will do. Muchas gracias.**

**Aly: Interesting e-mail address. Will definitely consider it when I get around to reposting that chapter. Thanks for the compliment. :)**

**Mage Kitty: I did so tell you! I told you I posted the prologue and then I figured if you wanted to read it, you would have. So there. *Sticks out tongue*  And you are NOT my mistress. For one thing, that just sounds wrong. For another, I believe in questioning and defying authority. **

**If anyone had trouble reading this, it's because I posted a first copy really quickly at school, forgetting I had a better edited one at home. So when I got home, I did the reviews (which I didn't have time to at school) and removed the first copy and posted the second. Anyways, congratulations if you made it past that and are actually reading this (dunno why you would be), I reward you with . . .**

**A better edited copy!**

**Nah, just kidding you. You can have Chapter 3 earlier. Say  . . . tonight? Tonight my time. Which would be in . . . I dunno, five hours? All righty then, I am off for some ice cream, even though it is –5C outside, but that's OK. I'll go now. **


	4. Trust Nothing Trust No One

**            A/N REPOSTED CHAPPIE. And here is Chapter Three for yous, I know I said I'd post it last night, but evil parents decided family needed to spend some time together and, whatsit, strengthen our family bond. I fell asleep. **

**Pronunciation Guide:******

**Dubhéadrom = [duv-ay-drum]**

**Faddha = [fad-a] (it's the Gaelic word for the accent above some letters)**

CHAPTER THREE 

            Back in the office, Sarah was playing Solitaire quite happily, Foaly was clacking away on his laptop and Root was pacing around the room, making quite a lot of crunching noises as he walked on the broken glass strewn around the room. Trouble and the headmaster were still unconscious on the floor (everyone seemed to have forgotten about Cedar and no one really wanted to bring Trouble round, in case he woke up grumpily and blasted everything again). Every now and then, one of the conscious three would curse under their breath, Foaly because something wasn't working, Sarah because she lost a game and Root because he was, as always, in a bad mood. Hearing footsteps approaching, Root spun around and glared at the door.

            "Someone's coming and they'd _better_ have good news." he growled to no one in particular. They all turned to the door, even Sarah. Holly walked, unconcernedly, through the door, followed a lot more warily by the fugitive skateboarder. Everyone stared at them, except Sarah, who waved absent-mindedly and went back to her card game.

            Root managed to speak first. "You've been gone five minutes and you _found_ him?"

            Without looking from her card game, Sarah said in a thoughtful voice, "I think I know what your problem is, Commander. You have Unable-To-Resist-Stating-The-Obvious Syndrome."

            Root exploded "WELL THAT'S BECAUSE I'M SURROUNDED BY IDIOTS ALL DAY!" Foaly hastily asked Holly "How'd you find him?"

            Holly shrugged "I thought of where I'd be if the LEP was after me and I was hiding in a school. In the admin part of the building." They nodded, then turned their attention to the black-haired punk, who was taking in the room with an interested expression. He nodded to Trouble and asked "He do this?"

            Foaly nodded. "Yup. And now we're going to find out how to get you four back to normal. First, I need to fill in a form. Already done the other three. First name?"

            "Sebastian."

            "Surname?"

            "Dubhéadrom."

            "Spell?"

            "D-U-B-H-E faddha-A-D-R-O-M"

            "You're Gaelic?"

            "Yup."

            "That's where the accent's from, thought it sounded familiar. Age?"

            "Forty."

            "OK, that's all we need for now. Commander, do we call in the team and head for Police Plaza? We've got all four now."

            Root thought for a minute then said "Not yet. Check to see if any more students from the school have got extra magic. Maybe it's something spreading through here."

            Sebastian shook his head and said "No, can't be here."

            "Why's that?"

            "I don't go to this school."

            "Where _do_ you go to school?"

            "Don't. I finished high school courses when I was thirty."

            Root groaned. "Great, another genius. Foaly's gonna have a fun time with this job. He's always complaining everyone's too stupid for his health."

            Foaly looked annoyed. Sarah asked in a vaguely impressed voice "How'd you manage to pass Math?"

            Root interrupted Sebastian's answer. "Foaly, get them to check the school anyway. And get Short back here. Frond knows we need someone with some tact. All right." He took a deep breath. "Foaly, bring the fourth kid round." There were immediate protests until Root bellowed, "WILL YOU ALL SHUT YOUR MOUTHS AND GET THIS KID AWAKE ALREADY?!?!" 

            They all looked at each other, then at Foaly.

"How do we wake him up without killing ourselves?"

            Foaly thought about it for a minute, then replied "One of you three with a million thaums wake him up. You've got more magic to resist . . . whatever he might do."

            "Thanks for the reassurance." muttered Holly.

            "Maybe it should be someone he knows, so he'll recognize them." carried on Foaly, ignoring Holly. "So, Sebastian, me and Julius will go over here," he walked as far away from trouble as he could "while Sarah and Holly wake him up." He remembered something, turned around and dragged the unconscious headmaster over with him. 

            "Oh, thanks." Holly said in a cheerful voice, just as Rowan walked in and Root bellowed at Foaly "DO NOT CALL ME JULIUS, PONY!". Rowan, blinking in confusion, was promptly grabbed by Foaly and dragged over to where a fuming Root and an unconcerned Sebastian were standing. Rowan stared at Sebastian, who met his gaze squarely. Rowan smiled and held out his hand.

            "Captain Rowan Short." Sebastian seemed to think for a few seconds before shaking his hand and replying "Sebastian." 

            Rowan raised an eyebrow and asked "Got a last name so I can book you for unnecessary violence?" Everyone who knew him (i.e. everyone except Sebastian) knew he was joking and wouldn't really do that. Except, as said before, Sebastian. Everyone looked at him to see his reaction.

            He just said in a calm voice "I do when asked nicely." 

            Rowan smiled and said "I was only joking."

            Sebastian nodded and said "I know", leaving everyone a little confused and wondering what he meant. Rowan opened his mouth to say something else, but Root had finally lost it.

            "WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP AND LET THOSE TWO GET ON WITH IT!"

            Foaly nodded to Holly and Sarah, who cautiously approached Trouble, who was surrounded by buzzing blue sparks. Holly looked at Sarah and nodded. Sebastian, who wasn't getting all the nodding and subtle gestures, muttered under his breath "I love non-verbal communication." Everyone smiled a little, then returned to the task at hand.

            Sarah said in a sing-song voice "Trouuuuuble! Wake uuuuuuuup!", while Holly grabbed his shoulder and shook him.

            Trouble shifted, groaned and muttered in his sleep. Holly shook him again and he frowned and growled something under his breath. Suddenly, Sebastian yelled "Get down!" just as magic exploded out of Trouble. The windows shattered and covered them all in bits of broken glass. Holly and Sarah dove to the floor to avoid the dangerous hail.

            Rowan, Foaly, Root and Sebastian weren't so lucky. They had been standing on the opposite side of the room as Trouble, Holly and Sarah. Right in front of the windows. As it turned out, not such a good idea. After the split second it took for the magic to wreak havoc again, everyone stood up cautiously and looked at Trouble, who sat up, stared around the gutted room and asked in a horrified voice, "Did I . . .?" 

Sarah nodded and while pulling glass out of her hood, replied cheerfully "Yup. Twice"

            Root was swearing while Foaly pulled Rowan to his feet. Foaly looked around the room and gave a low whistle. "That's one way to get attention."

They looked around for Sebastian, who seemed to have disappeared. Then they looked down. He had somehow managed to throw himself into the middle of the room and curl himself into a ball. Someone muttered something about good reflexes, but no one paid much attention, as they were too busy checking they weren't missing anything important, like a limb. As Sebastian stood up, he put a hand to his forehead.

            They followed his reach and winced. A piece of glass was stuck in his forehead. He pulled it out and dropped it on the floor, then put his hand up again to heal the cut.

            "Wait!" Foaly said suddenly. "Don't heal it!"

            Sebastian looked at him. "What? You want me to walk around bleeding? The blood's getting in my eyes, I can't see."

            "No, just don't heal it yourself. Your magic might overload like Trouble's did. Get someone else to do it."

            Sarah, who was closest to Sebastian, shrugged and said "I'll do it then." and stretched her arm out to touch the cut.

            "Wait!" Foaly cried again. 

            "What now?"

            "Maybe don't get someone with a million thaums to do it."

            Rowan stepped forwards and walked over to Sebastian. He touched his cut and the blue sparks healed it quickly.

            Foaly and Root pulled Trouble to his feet and checked him over for injuries, of which he seemed to have none. Then, Root turned to the others and announced, "OK, now we'll meet up with the team. They should be in the hall outside. Then we go back to Police Plaza." He turned and strode out into the hallway, followed by Rowan, Foaly and Sarah.

            Sebastian walked forwards to follow them, but tripped on a piece of debris and almost landed on his face, but Holly and Trouble each grabbed an arm and hauled him upright.

            Holly peered at him and said "Ah. That would do it. The team probably brought a medic, they'll sort it out."

            Trouble looked at his face too. His eyes were almost totally obscured by blood. Healing got rid of the wound itself, but left all the blood behind.

            He said in an apologetic voice "I did that, didn't I? I'm really sorry about that, I didn't mean to."

            "It's OK. Thanks for the catch. Could you . . .?"

            Trouble understood immediately and said "Sure. Holly, would you help me get him to the medic?"

            "Yup". They both grabbed an arm again and led him out into the hallway.

            Everyone who hadn't been in the room stared at them. Two kids, half-carrying another kid with blood all over his face and whose eyes you couldn't see for all the blood.

            One private said in an awed voice "What did you _do_ to him?"

            Trouble said quickly "A piece of flying glass hit him on the forehead."

            Sebastian nodded to where he guessed the team must be and said "I can't see any of you, but if I met you earlier over at the skate park, sorry about that."

            They grinned and said it was OK. Then an older elf with a white band on his arm came to the front and examined at the three of them.

            "Ah. Oh dear. I'm a paramedic, just to tell you." He looked at Trouble. "You're the one the magic knocked out?" Trouble nodded. "Can you make it to our van outside?"

            "Yeah, I'll be fine. There's nothing wrong with me. Other than that million thaum thing."

            "Sure? All right. In that case would you mind helping the fellow with the blood all over him to the van?"

            "No problem."

            "All right, let's go." the medic said. Holly grabbed Sebastian's other arm yet again and the whole lot of them followed the team to the road.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Once they got there, they found Sarah, Rowan, Foaly and Root waiting outside the medic van. The medic sat Sebastian down on the curb and, despite his protests that he was all right, Trouble beside him.

            After he'd taken Trouble's temperature, mopped off some of Sebastian's blood and given him a wet towel to do the rest himself, the medic went over to talk to Root. The four teenagers sat on the curb. Trouble sighed and said "I guess that we're gonna be spending a bit of time together while they fix this thing."

            "If they sort it out." A gloomy voice said. Sebastian removed the towel from his eyes and looked at them. "I dunno why you guys have enough faith in these people," he indicated the LEP "to think they'll sort it out quickly, if at all."

            The three looked at him questioningly. Sarah asked "Why do you think they won't?"

            He shrugged. "I don't know all that much about ancient magic, but I know enough to be sure that what's happening to us is something powerful from a long time ago. Those things are usually hard to fix quickly."

            Sarah nodded thoughtfully. "True, but most ancient magic is very straightforward. There is a problem, there is a cure. There is a weapon, there is a defence. Stuff like that. The reverse for our conditions would be easy to find."

            "Once we find out what's actually wrong with us and, more importantly, why." countered Sebastian. 

            Trouble muttered under his breath "Give me strength". At Sarah and Holly's questioning look (Sebastian wasn't paying much attention; too busy getting the blood off) he elaborated. "We're probably going to be stuck with each other for a while and we have a pessimistic punk," he indicated Sebastian "an insane skateboarder," he pointed to Holly "a road rage-suffering lunatic," he jerked his head towards Sarah "and a short-tempered elf who tends to destroy things when annoyed." he tapped himself on the chest. 

            Sebastian shook his head. "And you called me pessimistic." Trouble half-smiled and opened his mouth to reply, but shut it as the medic walked back over. The medic nodded to Trouble and said "You're fine, you can go." He turned to Sebastian and said "You too." He waved all four of them off to where Root, Foaly and Rowan were standing. 

            As soon as they were standing beside him, Root said "All right, let's go. Short, you and me are going in the wagon we came in. Foaly, take the kids in your van. Meet us in Ops." He turned and strode off. Rowan stopped to give them a reassuring smile, then followed him. Foaly gestured for them to follow him to a van standing apart from the others. He heaved open the back doors and the four of them got in. Foaly slammed the doors and got in the front.

            They looked around the interior of the van. It had probably been one of those ten-seaters at one time, but all of the seats except the driver's and the front passenger's had been ripped out. The resulting large and empty space had been filled with technological gadgets of all kinds. Against the side walls were tables with whirring computers sitting on them. 

            "Can I go on a computer? To use the Internet?" asked Sebastian. 

             "I don't think you'll find it that easily on the desktop. These are custom jobs. But if you can, sure. While you're at it, hack into the LEP criminal database and see if you've got a file there." Foaly chuckled at his joke.

            "All right." Sebastian answered. Foaly chuckled even more, but didn't notice Sebastian's serious expression, unlike Trouble, Holly and Sarah, who did and were puzzled by it. Sebastian sat himself down in front of one of the terminals and booted it up. He glanced at the desktop, didn't see the Internet icon and typed something on the keyboard. A window popped up saying "Search for which program?" 30 seconds later, Sebastian was accessing the LEP website, much to the amazement of the three watching him. Foaly was too busy driving and trying to avoid the, as Holly so aptly put it, mental sprites to notice anything odd.

            Sebastian tried to access the criminal database, was refused entry, and told he needed the password. He tapped the table thoughtfully, then muttered to himself "No, they're too smart to use one I can guess. Have to use a program." He opened another Internet window and was soon browsing through a website, searching for the program he wanted, having obviously done this before. He clicked on one that said "Self-installs, hacks what told to, self-uninstalls" and typed in the LEP criminal database's web address. The computer whirred and about 15 seconds later, Sebastian was searching through the criminal files for himself. 

He stopped at one page and announced "Here you are. Sebastian Dubhéadrom, 40 years old, been done for . . . yup, did that . . . that too . . . what's this . .  when did I cause a public disturbance? Last year? I did no such thing. Oh wait, so I did. That was no disturbance! The public were perfectly happy! The only people I was disturbing were the Council!"

            Foaly, who had been listening, turned right around in his seat and stared at Sebastian. "You have a criminal record?" 

            "Not a very long one."

            "That's beside the point! Do you or don't you?"

            "Yes, then. Happy now?"  

            "He has a criminal record. Wonderful. Hang on . . . the only way you'd know what we have on you is if you'd hacked into the LEP database. You _hacked_ into the LEP database?!?!"

            "You asked me to. And I was curious. Wanted to see what they'd got about me. Nothing much, actually."

            "You hacked into the _LEP_ database?!?!"

            "Yes. Not too hard, once I'd got the program going."

            "_You_ hacked into _my_ database?!?!"

            "I think we have established that Sebastian hacked into the LEP database. Now can we please move on to another line of conversation?" Sarah commented.

            Foaly was muttering to himself up front. He seemed to realize something, then spun around again and asked Sebastian sharply "Are you armed?"

            Sebastian looked at him for a moment, then nodded. Foaly sighed and said "Hand it over. Give it to the others."

            "All of it?"

            "How much do you have?!?!"

            "Not as much as I sometimes have."

            "Why do you need it all?"

            "I thought you said you researched me. My parents died before I could remember. I lived with my grandfather until I was 20, then he died. I lived on the streets after that."

            "What does that have to do with you needing to be armed?"

            "Obviously you never spent any time on the streets at all. I made a few enemies."

            "How?"

            "None of your business."

            "Fine, just hand it over to the others. Maybe not Sarah. I wouldn't trust her with anything pointy." From miscellaneous and unseen pockets, Sebastian handed over two knives, what appeared to be some smoke bombs and a Neutrino. This last item prompted a yelp from Foaly, whose demands to know where it came from fell on deaf ears. 

            A few minutes later, the offending weaponry was stowed away in Holly's schoolbag. Sebastian, totally unconcerned by recent events, was trawling the Internet and Foaly was back to muttering darkly under his breath. Holly, Sarah and Trouble looked at each other, a bit unsettled by this new development.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Foaly parked the van in the LEP garage, then hopped out and opened the back doors. Holly, Trouble and Sarah jumped out. Holly swung her bag onto her back, then groaned at the added weight. "How do you carry that around all day without a bag?" she muttered to herself.

            Foaly pointed to a door across the room and told them to go wait outside the door. The three started walking across the room. Sebastian jumped out and was about to follow him when Foaly stopped him and asked in a curious voice "Why did you tell me about your record at all, never mind in front of the others? You could have told me later, when they weren't there."

            Sebastian shrugged and said "They would have found out eventually. I'd rather tell them myself." Foaly looked at him for a minute, then nodded. Sebastian walked over to the door and Foaly locked up the van. Once inside the building with the other, Foaly set off towards the elevator. They walked inside and Foaly hit the button. An awkward silence fell as they waited, until Trouble asked "Umm . . . what's going to happen to us?"

            Foaly thought for a minute then replied "We'll figure out what's really wrong with you. If it's a spell or a reaction to something or whatever. Then we'll find out why. That last part can wait until after you're all fine and back to normal." Trouble and Holly nodded, but Sarah and Sebastian looked sceptical. Foaly noticed this and said "We've got the best fairies here who know how to deal with things like this. There are all sorts of technology and experienced techies to use it. If it makes you feel better, one wing of the building is a hospital. Excellent paramedics. It'll be OK." 

            The elevator stopped at the floor for Ops and as they got off, Foaly couldn't help noticing that neither Sarah nor Sebastian looked at all reassured. 

            **Oooh, now it's getting interesting. Dum dum dum. Review lots and tell me what you think of it so far. At the beginning, I was a bit worried that Sebastian character might be seen as a male Mary Sue (whatever that name is). What do you guys think?**

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Crazyreadergirl: Umm, I suggest you read the rest of the story that's up. That might explain things. The journals of Celtic kings is just for a bit of backstory. And yes, it will be an adventure. **

**Boogalaga: Actually, last night my sister (little one, I'm the eldest, I write most of my stories for her, don't I give the best presents?) told me it would be cool if the four of them (Holly, Trouble, Sarah and Sebastian) met Artemis in some adventure-ish mystery thingamajigger. I'm considering it. Would be interesting, if only to see how Artemis handles Sarah. :) Tell me what you think. I'd only do that after this one is finished, so you'd have to wait a while. I'd put you in the dedication for being so POed that Artemis wasn't in this one :)**

**Mage Kitty: Good, you're on my author alert thingy, so hurry up and update!!! Politicians? An entirely different species. That should be locked up in nice padded rooms. **


	5. Settling In

**A/N REPOSTED CHAPPIE. YES!!! NO SCHOOL FOR A WEEK!!! So you lot will expect lots of nice updates and I will expect lots of nice reviews. Deal? Good.******

CHAPTER FOUR 

            The five of them walked into Ops and looked around for Root and Rowan. Foaly called to a techie, who was feverishly typing away at something, "Root and Short back yet?" The elf replied "No" without even looking up. Sarah and Trouble were staring around them at all the fairies walking or running around, the machines beeping and making funny noises and the talking and laughter coming from all sides. Holly had been here quite a few times, obviously, since her father worked here. And Sebastian, well, he never seemed put off by anything.

            Foaly led them over to the Ops booth and unlocked it. Being the paranoid centaur that he was, it took several minutes to bypass all the security devices. Once inside, he booted up a computer and sat back to wait for it to load. He turned to the four teenagers. "I'm going to print out passes for you guys. That way you can go around HQ without getting stopped every few minutes."

            Sebastian muttered "As if the security is that good." Foaly glared at him and continued. 

            "We're going to have to keep you all here until this magic problem is fixed. We don't want anything else to happen. It's also easier to have you on hand if we hit on something we think will work."

            "So for the next while were going to be living in the LEP's HQ?" 

            "Yup. You'll sleep . . . I dunno, probably in the long term patients ward in the hospital wing, they've got individual rooms that are empty. We've got a cafeteria here, though I never said the food was good. So yes, you will be living here for a bit." 

            There was silence as they came to terms with this. There was a beeping as the printer let them know it had finished. Foaly handed out the passes. Holly announced she was hungry and was going to go down to cafeteria. Sarah left with her. Foaly opened the database while Trouble sat down and Sebastian curled up in a chair. Foaly remarked to Sebastian "I'm going to read your record. You'll answer my questions." 

            Foaly hummed a little under his breath as he read, only stopping to raise his eyebrows at something he'd read and Sebastian had done. Finally he swivelled around and looked at him. "Minor things to start with. Apparently you were the student from hell as far as your headmaster was concerned. You pranked him almost everyday and basically made his life a living hell. He complained to the LEP numerous times. Why is that?"

            "He had it in for me from day one. He hated me. Thought I was a no-good punk who didn't deserve to live, let alone have an education. He tried to set me up for things some rich kid had done a few times. After two years, I gave up thinking that he'd lighten up when he found out I wasn't what he thought I was."

            "All right. You never got anything more than a suspension, though. He never caught you in the act, but he knew it was you?"

            "Yup."

            "And then we have the recent crimes. Let's see . . . suspected breaking and entering, suspected hacking, suspected computer crimes, which include diversion of money from bank accounts. . . hang on. All of these are suspected. You've never been caught?"

            "What makes you think I even did any of those things?"

            "Because you said you did."

            "So I did. Carry on."

            "Now. Explain. Breaking and entering?"

            "Would you believe me if I said that on several occasions I stole files from other criminals that would have used said files to do various evil things?"

            "No, but we'll leave it at that. Hacking? Never mind, I suppose it's the same story. Diversion of money from bank accounts?"

            "It was a stage I was going through."

            "A _stage_?"

            "Yup. I was going through a stage where I decided I'd help the world. So I took large amounts of money from several corrupt and disgustingly wealthy politicians and diverted it to many random people who were in need of money. I saw the futility of it all when it took the politicians six months to realize that they were missing enough money to comfortably support a family for a few hundred years."

            "That sounds vaguely plausible. Public disturbance?"

            "It was _not_ disturbing the public."

            "Just tell me."

            "You know the OWCP group?"

            "Out With Corrupt Politicians?"

            "Yup. One of them, a good mate of mine, asked me if I knew a way to make sure the Council saw their upcoming protestation. This was about a year ago. I said I knew a way and that I'd be more than happy to do it. He didn't want any details, but he just told me to make sure no one go hurt."

            "Sounds like the OWCP. Have some morals, but not others."

            "Exactly. So, on the day of the protest, I took my laptop into the centre of Haven with me. I knew that the Council would be at a meeting with some foreign ambassador. They'd leave the meeting and head back to their offices. The OWCP was hoping to catch them in transit. All the traffic generated by their protest would clog up the streets, leaving the Council stuck in the middle of a protest they'd have to watch. Good plan, hmm?"

            "Oh, excellent. What was your part?"

            "I had to make sure that they caught the Council and that traffic stayed stuck."

            "We always wondered how that was done. Do tell."

            "I knew the place the Council would be having the meeting and when they'd be leaving. So, I hacked into the HTCN controller system . . ."

            "Haven Traffic Control Network? I'm starting to understand now. . . you didn't."

            "I did. I hacked into their controller and kept changing all the traffic lights so the Council's limo would get red lights all the way. Worked perfectly. The Council was stuck in the middle of the worst traffic jams ever recorded in Haven, surrounded by protestors. The only bit that didn't go according to plan was when some LEP officers on the beat got a bit suspicious of me, a punk with a laptop laughing away at something. I had to leg it pretty quickly. They fixed the system in the end, but the OWCP were happy."

"All right, interrogation over, though I'm sure Root will put you through it again when he gets here. I'm going to research this condition of yours again." And with that Foaly turned back to his computer and promptly forgot about Sebastian and Trouble sitting there.

            Trouble turned to Sebastian and "Was all that true? You did all that? You helped people you didn't know?"

            Sebastian looked at him and said "No one will believe me, but yes, I did all that, for those reasons. I was trying to help people."

            Trouble nodded thoughtfully and said "I think I believe you."

            "Thanks for the reassurance."

            Trouble grinned. "No problem. I'm going down to Holly and Sarah to get some food. Coming?"

            "No, I'm fine." Trouble nodded and headed off for the cafeteria, forgetting he didn't know the way.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            "He did all that? Whoa." 

            "And he never got caught either? That's pretty good. I always get caught. Except when I threw that cactus out my window, but that was different."

            Trouble, Holly and Sarah were sitting around a table in the corner of the cafeteria and getting some weird looks from the officers eating there. Trouble, after much confusion and getting lost quite a few times, had arrived in the cafeteria and told Holly and Sarah everything he'd heard in the Ops booth. Their reactions had been pretty much the same as his. 

            "So what are they going to do? Put him on trial? No, they can't put a criminal on trial if they're underage." mused Holly.

            "I don't think so. It's all suspected, even though he said he did it all. They don't have any proof." replied Trouble

            "But you said he admitted it all. Isn't that proof enough?"

            "Should be, but maybe they're going to let him be since he came clean and if he doesn't do it again."

            "That would be nice of them to- Sarah! Stop that!"

            "Stop what?" Sarah asked Holly innocently.

            "Stop using that plastic knife to flick spitballs at the ceiling!"

            "But they're not falling down. They're sticking."

            Trouble looked confused and asked "What does that have to do with anything?", but Holly just looked at Sarah and said "If the staff don't find out and get them off, then all the moisture will evaporate and they'll fall off into some unsuspecting fairy's food!"

            "Ickyful." Sarah grimaced. 

            "Exactly! So stop it! How would you feel if dried spitballs started falling in your food?"

            "Sick." Trouble hastily turned his laugh into a cough at the look on Holly's face. She hissed at him when Sarah wasn't watching "Don't encourage her. She'll only get worse."

            Trouble thought about that for a minute, then hissed back "Is that possible?"

            "I'd rather not find out."

            "Ditto."

            "What are you two whispering about?"

            "Whispering? Who's whispering?"

            "Not me. You must be hearing things. A hissing noise, maybe? Could be the moisture oozing out of your spitballs up there." Sarah glared at Holly, who looked back innocently. Trouble grinned and finished the remains of his meal. He sat back and stared at the ceiling, now dotted with spitballs.

            "I'm bored."

            "Me too."

            "Let's go throw cactuses at people."

            "_No_, Sarah. And it's cacti."

            "Cat eye? What does that have to do with anything? And you say I'm random. You're just a hypocrite, Holly."

            "No, no, _no_. One cactus, two cacti, get it? It's called grammar."

            "I think I've heard of that . . ."

            "Really. Imagine that. And I thought you spent all of Gnommish class brain-dead. Obviously there are many things about you we don't know."

            Sarah nodded absent-mindedly, apparently unaware of the sarcasm dripping from Holly's voice. She replied in a totally serious voice, "I have hidden depths." Holly and Trouble looked at each other and burst out laughing. Sarah focused on them, looking mad, but was unable to start berating them due to the yell of the chef working behind the serving counter.

            "Hey, you kids mind keeping it down?"

            "Sorry, Chris." yelled back Holly. Trouble looked at her and asked "Do you know _everyone_ here by name?" 

Holly shrugged. "Most of them." Before Trouble or Sarah could comment, Chris yelled over to them "You kids seem bored, so would you mind giving me a hand to keep yourselves out of trouble? I'm making pizza for the dinner hour and I've no patience for it. Too much fiddling. Usually one of the assistants will do it. Amazingly good at it. He's from under Italy. No wonder. But he's sick., so would you three do it?"

They looked at each other and grinned. "Sure!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Upstairs, Foaly was in his own world, trawling the Internet, looking for anything, however arcane. He would find something that looked promising, but it always turned out to be a hoax, a fictional story, or an ad for an upcoming computer game. He'd read it, curse and start looking again.

            Sebastian was still curled up in a chair, trying not to fall asleep. In the silence and privacy of his mind, he was having an argument with himself.

            _You haven't slept since yesterday._

            I'm not tired.

            _Yes you are. Stop lying._

            I don't want to sleep here. Too uncomfortable.

            _No, that's not why. You're scared to fall asleep._

            That's stupid. Why would I be scared to fall asleep? I don't have nightmares anymore. 

            _You're scared that you might not wake up. You're scared this mystery condition is worse than what everyone thinks. You're scared you'll fall asleep and when you wake up everyone will be dead. Because of you._

            Shut up.

            _Everyone will be dead because of you. Just like in your dream. _

            Shut up! It was just a dream!

            _No it wasn't. It was a sign of what would happen. It happened to Trouble. It could happen to you._

            I won't fall asleep. It won't happen. It was just a dream! Blown way out of proportion.

            _Proportion to what?_

            Just leave me alone.

            _Don't fall asleep._

            I won't.

            He stared at nothing for a while, then he murmured something quietly under his breath.

            Foaly heard him and turned around. Nothing unusual, he thought to himself. The kid's just fallen asleep. He turned back to his work.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Several stories below, Holly and Trouble were making pizza while Sarah sat on the counter and flicked bits of cheese, pineapple or peppers at them. Whenever Chris turned around to check on them, she'd stop and pretend to be working. Holly and Trouble were quickly losing patience. Holly got a pepper right between the eyes and snapped.

            "That's it!" She grabbed a handful of half-melted cheese from their earlier failure and flung it at Sarah, who was looking the other way. But fate chose that exact moment to give Sarah an itch on her ankle. She bent down to scratch it, and the blob of cheese whistled over her head. The three watched in horror to see who it would hit.

            A sprite had just gotten his food and turned around to go sit with his friends when a disgustingly mushy something hit him on the back of the neck. He shrieked in a most amusing way and spun around. The first thing he saw was Chris laughing at him. He immediately assumed that Chris had thrown it. Big mistake. He grabbed a handful of his mashed potatoes and flung it at Chris. Chris yelled, threw something back, missed and hit a random passer-by. You can guess what happened next. 

            In approximately thirty seconds, a fully fledged food fight was taking place in the cafeteria. Holly, Sarah and Trouble looked at each other, shrugged, grabbed a handful of ammunition and joined in.

Ten minutes later, they were all covered in food and being told off extremely loudly by a kill-joy sergeant who had walked in and gotten a piece of pizza in the face. The three teenagers had been very nervous when he started yelling. Their experience with adults was that kids were blamed for everything. Some of the officers must have seen it in their faces, as they smiled and whispered they'd help them. When the irate officer started marching up and down and shouting, Holly, Sarah and Trouble hid behind the grinning LEP officers. 

After the sergeant had stormed off, and the other officers started cleaning up, the three slipped out of the cafeteria and ran for the elevator. Trouble hit the button for the Ops floor, then they all relaxed as the elevator started ascending. 

"That was fun."

"Let's do it again at dinner time."

"_No_, Sarah. They'd probably catch us."

"Still. We made a good first impression on those officers, didn't we?"

"Oh, definitely. They were nice about it all, though."

"Yup. Do you think Root and Dad are back yet? I wonder what's keeping them?"

"What are Foaly and Sebastian doing?"

"Foaly's researching and I don't know what Sebastian's doing."

The elevator stopped and they walked towards the Ops booth. The first thing they saw and heard was Root bellowing at some private. They approached more cautiously and saw Rowan standing beside him, trying to get him to stop yelling and go over to the Ops booth with him. Finally, Root stopped yelling and walked over to the Ops booth with Rowan. The three followed them. 

Foaly looked up, saw them approaching and unlocked the door. Rowan stepped inside, greeted Foaly and was followed by Root who was still fuming. Holly, Sarah and Trouble walked into the Ops booth too. Root noticed them, glared and exploded. "WHAT IS THIS I HEAR ABOUT YOU THREE STARTING A FOOD FIGHT?" They winced and tried to reply, but Root was in full swing.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO REDUCE MY OFFICERS TO HYPERACTIVE, IMMATURE CHILDREN THAT THROW FOOD AROUND?"

            "We just-"

            "AND SERGEANT MOLLOY TELLS ME THE OFFICERS WERE LAUGHING ALL THROUGH HIS REPRIMANDING! THAT WAS YOU THREE AS WELL I IMAGINE!"

            "No, it was-" Trouble tried to talk over Root's incoherent roaring, but stopped and stared at Rowan and Foaly. Holly and Sarah turned to look at them too. There was a mixture of horror and fear on Rowan and Foaly's faces as they stared across the room.

            "Commander? I really think you should stop yelling." Foaly said quietly, still staring across the room. Rowan nodded furiously. Holly, Sarah, Trouble and Root followed their gazes. Sebastian was curled up in a chair, fast asleep. Or he had been. Now, he was stirring, frowning and muttering. But that wasn't what was bothering everyone. Surrounding him was a veritable fog of blue sparks, buzzing and humming noisily.

            Root snapped his mouth shut and slowly backed away, towards the door. The other didn't dare move, afraid that a single noise would wake him and provoke his magic into wreaking havoc, just like Trouble's had.

            No one moved or spoke for a moment. Then, fate thought, what the heck, let's blow everything all up again. A techie burst into the room, waving a print-out and yelling. Sebastian's eyes snapped open and the magic exploded in all directions. Including right at the people standing there. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            No one made a sound, too frightened to speak or scream. They watched, as if in slow motion, the sparks approach them. More than one of them thought "Wow, this is how it ends". Suddenly, Sebastian sat bolt upright and stared at his magic about to fry the seven fairies in the room. His jaw dropped. In the split second before the magic hit, he made a decision. He concentrated. 

The cloud, now a foot away from the fairies, seemed to freeze. It hung, motionless in mid air, then seemed to rebound off an invisible wall and returned to Sebastian, as if on an elastic band. The sparks hit him and promptly disappeared back inside him. There was total silence in the room, as Holly, Sarah, Trouble, Rowan, Foaly, Root and the unfortunate techie stared at Sebastian, while he stared right back at them. Abruptly, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out. He fell to the floor with a dull thud.

**Dum dum dum. REVIEW!!! I like reviews, they make me happy. The happier I am. The more I write. The more I write, the sooner I update. Hint hint hint. **

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Siora: Hello, I don't believe we've met before. Welcome to rehab, Siora. Thanks for your very complimenting-ish (I'll NEVER get the bloody word right) review. Not confusing at all, I understood perfectly. At least you understood. I told my little brother that part and he didn't get it. *Sigh* No subtlety. Anyways, I'll update, you'll review. Good? We have an understanding. Bien!**

**Boogalaga: I told my sister. She says thanks. Yeah, I would be interesting how Artemis would handle Sebastian. If (big if) I do that particular story line, I'd do it in a separate story when I've finished this one. So you'd have a while to wait :)**


	6. Awakenings

**A/N REPOSTED CHAPPIE! This is an all-important chapter in which you guys FINALLY get to know the REAL plot. I know, I know, it took 14,000 words to get to the beginning of the real plot. So here is a warning for all of yous that a) have problems with long stories b) like stories that get into the action really quickly or c) are just plain stupid.**

** THIS WILL BE A V. V. V. V. V. LONG STORY. CAPICHE?**

** OK, now that we've got that straight, I'll shut up.**

CHAPTER FIVE 

            _Abruptly, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out. He fell to the floor with a dull thud._

            Fifteen minutes after Sebastian passed out, he was lying, still unconscious, in a bed in the hospital wing. In the chairs beside his bed sat Holly, Sarah and Trouble, who were too numb to speak. Foaly was deep in conversation with the head paramedic, Rowan had disappeared somewhere and Root was outside in the corridor yelling at the shell-shocked techie. 

            Foaly nodded to the medic and walked over to the four teenagers. He stood beside the bed and was silent for a few minutes, then spoke quietly. 

            "We need to fix this now. Before anyone else gets hurt." They nodded and Sarah asked "What's wrong with him?" Foaly shrugged.

            "The medic doesn't really know. He's never seen anything like what's happening to you guys. No one has." He saw the look on their faces and added hurriedly "It's probably just exhaustion. Must've taken a heck of a lot out of him to stop that magic from frying us all." Everyone shuddered at the memory of the magic flying towards them. 

            Just then, the door at the end of the ward slammed open and Root stormed in, muttering under his breath about idiot rookies always poking their noses where they're not wanted and never knocking. He quietened as he approached the others. He looked at them and asked in gruff, but quiet voice, "Everyone OK?" There was a general murmur of assent.

            Holly looked up and asked "Where's Dad?"

            Root shrugged, but Foaly replied "He said he'd thought of something and wanted to check it. Said he was going to the city library, that's the best source of accurate information around here." Holly nodded and sat back. Root went over to talk to the medic and Foaly sat down and stared out the window. Silence descended, as everyone sat listening to Sebastian's slow breathing and waiting for whatever would happen next. 

            Ten minutes later, the door flew open again and Rowan rushed in, slamming the door behind him and shouting something about knowing the reason. As if this had been a signal they had been waiting for, everyone jumped up and started talking.

            "Where have you been?"

            "Why didn't you tell me where you were going?"

            "Did you find anything?"

            "What were you looking for?"

Foaly jumped up and started making frantic shushing gestures. No one paid him any attention, other than giving him weird looks. Suddenly, Sebastian cried out in his sleep and sat up in bed. Foaly shook his head and muttered "I was _telling_ you to be quiet, but no one pays _any_ attention to me. Nope. Never. _Especially_ when it's important."

"WILL YOU STOP MOANING AND GET TO WORK ON FIXING THIS MESS!" Root roared, nearly deafening everyone in a half-mile radius. Foaly winced, sat down and turned to Rowan expectantly. "Well? What did you find out?"

Rowan looked around and said "You all might want to sit down. This might take a while." Sebastian slumped back against the headboard and Root drew up a chair and thumped himself down, before growling "OK. Talk." Foaly muttered something about no tact, before Root's glare silenced him.

            Rowan hid his smile, then cleared his throat. "I had an idea about why this thing is happening to these kids, and only these kids. It was just after Trouble had blown up the office for the second time. Foaly said "That's one way to get attention". I didn't really think about that until Sebastian almost blew up the Ops booth. I dunno why, it just clicked. So I went to the city library to try and check it."

            Root was losing patience. "Check what? Tell us already!"

            Rowan hid a smile again and pulled a stack of papers from the bag he had been carrying. Noticing Foaly's look, he said "I tried to get it on disk, but you know librarians. Over their dead bodies can somebody mess with library property. Had to get paper copies of the texts. Very interesting ones too." He winked at Foaly and the kids, who'd by now guessed what he was doing and were grinning.

            Root knew he was being provoked, but blew up anyway, just to make himself feel better. "TELL US WHAT YOU FOUND OR I'LL PUT YOU ON TRAFFIC DUTY FROM NOW UNTIL YOU RETIRE!"

            Rowan spread some of the papers on the foot of Sebastian's bed and said "It's simple. Just what Foaly said." Everyone looked at Foaly, who shrugged and said "I say a lot of amazingly intelligent things. Which one are you talking about?" Everyone rolled their eyes.

            "That's one way to get attention." Rowan said triumphantly. There was silence. Sebastian made a disbelieving noise and said to Foaly "I don't blame you for being frustrated, they _are_ idiots." This earned him glares from everyone, until they noticed the smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He continued talking. "This is happening to us because some magic, a spell or prophecy or some ancient magic, is trying to draw attention to us. To make us four stand out from everyone else, for whatever reason."

            "Exactly. Now we just need to find out why. But it's easier now, since we have something to work from. These texts should help, they're talking about the ways of ancient magic I brought a lot of them, so everyone can do some. We'll go faster." Rowan handed papers around. He held some out to Trouble, who was paying no attention.

            "Trouble?" Trouble was frowning at Sebastian, then suddenly said "What did you say? About how it's happening to us because some magic? What magic? What did you say?"

            A little unnerved by the edginess in Trouble voice, Sebastian thought, then replied "Some spell or prophecy-" he was interrupted by Trouble's triumphant shout.

            "That's it!" He ran down the ward and out the door. There was silence as everyone looked at each other. Sarah shrugged and said "Troubled child. Why'd you think he picked that name?" Everyone rolled their eyes and waited. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a panting Trouble ran in with his school bag. He flung himself down on the end of the bed, bouncing Sebastian about three feet in the air. 

            Totally unaware of this, Trouble dug through his bag, all the while talking. "I dunno why I brought it to school. Good thing I did. Here it is!" Triumphantly, he pulled out the notebook in which he wrote his dreams. 

            Foaly sniffed and said haughtily "_More_ paper and ink. So barbaric." No one paid him any attention. Trouble flipped through the pages, talking hurriedly while he did. "I've been having weird dreams for a while. About 10 days, maybe more. They're all about the same thing or event happening, except I've only ever seen bits of it. Flashes of it here and there, so I never understood it. Except, last night, I saw it all together, from start to finish. I wrote it down. There was, well, just read it." 

            He found the page and pushed it across the bed. Everyone else leaned forwards to read it. When they finished, in no particular order, they all had different opinions. Sarah looked thoughtful, Root shook his head, Foaly hummed under his breath, Rowan nodded, Holly shrugged. They all looked at him with sceptical expressions, except for Sebastian. He leaned back after he'd read it and said simply "Weird. Too weird to be made up. I believe you." Trouble smiled his thanks and looked at the others, who shrugged.

            Foaly said "Could just be some weird nightmares you've been having. Doesn't necessarily mean anything." Root and Rowan nodded. Holly was looking uncertain, wavering towards Foaly's opinion. Sarah, however, asked thoughtfully "Any prophetic blood in your family?"

            "None that I know of." He looked in despair at the others. "Could you just _check_ if it's true? If that actually happened?" Sebastian leaned forward and pulled the book towards him. He skimmed through it until he came to the part he was looking for. Then he looked up at Sarah.

            "You said you know a bit about ancient magic?"

            She shrugged. "A little."

            "Ever heard of this? It sounds familiar to me. The Pendant of Halifirien."

            She nodded slowly and said "Yeah, it does sound familiar. And that prophet's name. What was it, Amiel." She turned to Rowan, Root and Foaly. "Could you check if some guy named Amiel ever made a prophecy about the Pendant of Halifirien? Just that?" 

            Foaly sighed and nodded. "I'll go do it now." He walked down the ward and out the door. Root stood up and said "I've got to do some other things. Rowan, you staying here?" Rowan nodded and said "I'm going to read some of these texts."

            Silence once again descended on the ward, as the remaining fairies set about reading the long texts, half of which made no sense to three of the teenagers. Sebastian was zooming through his texts, going twice the speed of the others, who soon learned to ignore it. After about ten minutes, Foaly came back in, looking extremely excited, followed by Root, who was looking as exasperated as ever. 

            Root thumped himself down on a chair again and growled "All right. Share information. Rowan, find anything?" Foaly made an impatient noise, obviously eager to share his findings, but shut up at the look on Root's face.

            He nodded and pulled a text out. "According to this, sometimes a fairy's magic goes berserk if a) he's tampered with it b) someone's put a spell on him c) someone's cursed him or d) there's a prophecy about him."

            Foaly nodded thoughtfully. "A's ruled out for these guys. B's gone too, the medics would've known, they're trained for that kind of stuff. So that leaves C and D. OK, my turn. Well, I hate to say it and you'll never hear me say it again, but . . . I was wrong."

            Sebastian muttered under his breath "Save us. The apocalypse has come." He got a glare from Foaly and a grin from everyone else. Foaly cleared his voice and continued. "There _was_ a prophet named Amiel and he _did_ make a prophecy about some Pendant of Halifirien. I did a quick bit of research about this Pendant, I was looking mostly for a picture-"

            He was interrupted by Trouble's voice. "That's it." They followed his gaze and saw that Sebastian was drawing a picture on the corner of his text while Sarah quietly directed him. After a minute, Sebastian held up his drawing for them to see while Sarah said "We think that's what it looks like. As close as we can get it."

            It was a triangular shaped pendant. From the pencil drawing, you couldn't tell colours, but it was a pretty good sketch. It hung from a chain and was standing on its point. It was made up of many intertwining lines. It was clearly of Celtic origin. Foaly pulled out a print-out and held it up beside it. His was in colour, showing that the Pendant was silver. Other than that, it was an exact likeness. 

            Foaly cleared his throat to get their attention back and pulled out anther print-out. "This is the story, so far as I can tell. This Pendant belonged to the ancient fairy kings of Ireland. Apparently, it is amazingly powerful (doesn't say how or why), so in the wrong hands, it could mean doom for us all. So, the kings decided to destroy it. Unfortunately, there was a prophecy saying that the Pendant could only be destroyed by someone who 1) it belonged to by blood 2) had fought and defeated someone who wanted the Pendant for evil purposes and 3) was "the one". Don't ask how anyone would know who's the one in the prophecy. 

            "So, one king gave it away to one of his trusted nobles. A duke from, hmm, doesn't say. Anyway, now the Pendant belonged to another blood line, who said king thought was stronger and could resist using the Pendant. Fast forward a few hundred years. One of the duke's descendant's, a Tarlang Caillas, had just defeated some evil fairy who wanted the Pendant. Tarlang was about to destroy it, since he thinks he's the one in the prophecy. But this Amiel showed up and informed him he's not the one and there's _another_ prophecy. So Tarlang decided, if he can't destroy it, he'll hide it. So he did and no one's ever seen or heard of it again.

            "The second prophecy is the one that I think concerns you four. Here it is:

A sword for a warrior

A crown for a king

A key for a door

A weapon for a thief

The sun may be darkened

Yet the moon will shine through

All that is old does not have to break

All that is young does not shy away

Five souls will be bonded

Four bonded in alliance

One bonded in opposition

All will be bonded in risk

On a chain of moonlight

Rests a star of night

The key for a door

The object of our doom

Found it must be

By who it will depend

The four who seek to destroy it?

Or the one who will use it?

These four beings

Have each a gift

That will serve them well

And a part yet to be played

A reader to tell hidden feelings

A dreamer to dream what they must do

A protector to defend them from evil 

A caster to do magic to give them an edge

Yet this star most precious

Cannot be destroyed by any

Save the one to whom it belongs

By blood and ancient right

This one will be part

Of the bonded four

But who it is will remain

Untold until all is as foretold

For if they fail

And the star unleashed

The consequences

Are too dire to be told

For a day will come

When all will end

Our world collapse 

Our future depart"

            When he finished, there was silence, before Root spoke. "It's very nice, but I don't understand a word of it." 

Foaly sighed and said "I'll explain. The first verse, I don't know what it is, just a nice bit of poetry. Second verse, same thing, except the "all that is young does not shy away" bit is probably saying that someone young will have to do some important duty. Or several someones, perhaps. Third verse, it gets interesting. Apparently, this prophecy bonds five fairies. Four of them are, pardon the expression, the "good guys", the other is the "bad guy". And the entire fairy civilization is bonded because everything is at risk. Fourth verse-"

"Is talking about the Pendant, right?" interrupted Holly. Foaly nodded and continued.

"Just basically describing the Pendant and saying it could be the doom of the world. Fifth verse. The Pendant, which we now know was hidden by this Tarlang fellow, will be found, but we don't know why by, the good side or the bad. Good side will try and destroy it, bad side will try to use it and rule the world, etc.

"Sixth verse. The four bonded fairies each have some "gift" that will help them and a certain role to play in the group. Seventh verse. Describes these gifts and roles. One fairy will be the "reader". I think it means that they can read minds. Another is the "dreamer", who is basically a prophet who dreams things. The third is the "protector", who I guess is the person who does the physical stuff, but I don't know about the protector's gift. The fourth is the "caster", who's magic will be boosted. I don't know if it just means the caster can heal a lot more things, or if they can really do magic, like a wizard can."

"The rest of it, I didn't get time to read. Rowan, you've had experience with this sort of thing, would you?" Rowan nodded. "Sure." He sat back and read the rest of the prophecy, frowning every now and then. Then he sat forward and started talking.

"The eighth verse is just repeating what Foaly told us before. The Pendant can only be destroyed by the "one", who the Pendant belongs to, etc. Ninth verse is important, is says that the one who can destroy it is one of the bonded four. So that narrows the search down a heck of a lot. Tenth and eleventh verse just say if the Pendant isn't destroyed, there will be terrible consequences."

There was silence after this lengthy speech from the two. Holly summed it up in a sentence. "So there's this prophecy that means we have to go find this Pendant using our powers and one of us has to destroy it or we're all doomed?"

"Yup."

"A quest to save civilization as we know it? Sounds fun? Does this go on our college application?" asked Sarah thoughtfully. Root replied "If you survive, we'll think about it."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Rowan looked at his watch and said "It's almost quitting time. Let's finish this quickly tonight and tomorrow we'll carry on." Holly nodded and said "I think the first thing we should do is figure out who's got what job. Make things easier." Trouble nodded and said "I think it goes without saying that I'm the dreamer." Everyone nodded. 

            Root said "I think it'll be easiest to figure out who's the one who does magic."

            "Caster" interjected Foaly.

            Root waved his hand. "Yes, that one. For one thing, they'd probably have more magic than the others, even now." 

            Foal thought for a moment then announced "Sarah. She has a million and one thaums, the others has a million even. It's only a little, but that's all we've got to go on."

            He turned to Sarah and said "Try to do a bit of magic. You said you know a bit about ancient magic? Do you know any spells?"

            "Yup. We've got a big collection of books about magic at home. I've memorized quite a few incantations."

            "Why?"

            "Nothing else to do and it's fun to use them as curse words. OK, what will I try . . . Oh, I know! Levitation! Always wanted to try that." She concentrated on the bottle of water on the table beside and muttered something under her breath. Nothing happened for a minute, then the bottle slowly rose into the air and floated across to Sarah's open hand.

            There was an awed silence for a moment, then Foaly said "We'd better watch out for you, make sure you get enough practice at that stuff." He turned to Sebastian and Holly and said thoughtfully "That leaves you two and protector and reader. Either of you two able to read minds?"

            They both shook their heads. Holly concentrated on the people around her. Their thoughts weren't open to her. Something _was_ different, though. But what? She was about turn to Sebastian to ask him what he thought, then decided against it. Shouldn't annoy him when he's mad, she thought. Then she did a double-take. She looked closely at Sebastian. His face was expressionless, totally calm. But she knew, somehow _knew_, that he was angry.        

            Then it hit her and she had to resist slapping herself on the forehead. The others saw her expression and asked her what was wrong. "Reader doesn't read _minds_, they read _feelings_. Like in the prophecy. A reader to tell hidden _feelings_."

            "Can you tell any feelings right now?"

"I can tell what all of you are feeling. You're all mostly tired and surprised by all of this. Except him." She chucked a thumb in Sebastian's direction. "He's mad as hell. I dunno why."

Sebastian looked surprised, then replied "I'm not mad. I'm fine."

She knew he was lying. She didn't know how she knew, she just did. So she said simply "You're lying."

Sebastian nodded, looking impressed. "You _can_ tell feelings. I was just testing."

"So why are you angry?"

Something passed across his face. "I don't like sitting here and doing nothing."

Foaly cleared his throat and said "Well, that leaves Sebastian as protector. We'll continue tomorrow. Your rooms are down that way. They're individual ones. Tomorrow we'll take you to your houses so you can pick up whatever you'll need while you're staying here. Good night." With that, Root and Foaly left. 

Rowan hugged Holly and said "I'll explain to your mother. See you all tomorrow. Have a good sleep." He smiled and left too. The four looked at each other, then headed off for their rooms.

**Well? What do you think of the new developments? Good? Bad? Confusing? Tell me. REVIEW!**

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Liaranne: Your review made me do two things. First, I slapped myself on the forehead and told myself what an idiot I am. Then, I slapped myself on the forehead again and told myself what an idiot I ma for not giving nice and helpful reviews like you do. Thank you, thank you. Here's the answer's to your questions. 1) I really don't know. I'm juts an idiot, it slipped my mind. But it isn't really that important to the story. But thanks for pointing it out, when I go back for final revisions, I'll make sure to fix that. 2) Very true. Actually, when I was picking the names, I did Sarah's last and didn't do such a good job on it. And I'm really not that good with names. 3) Yes, please! I would greatly appreciate your help with a new name. **

**Aly: Yes, I will use that address, I LIKE it! Did you get inspiration form Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? I love that book! About the chapters, do you think I should cut them in half?**

**Mage Kitty: LEP ARE useless in this sort of thing, my point exactly! As for updating, if you do not remember the definition, I will forget it. So there! **

**Mage Kitty: Ooops, missed that typo. Will fix it later. Food fights are FUN! As for the humour genre, my story isn't all that funny, so I was gonna leave it Action/Adventure. **

**I'll do this once, tell me if I should continue it. I'll give you a preview of the next chapter.**

"So where is it?"

"Mongolia."

"Mongolia?!?!"

"What would a Celtic fairy be doing in Mongolia?"

"What would _anyone_ be doing in Mongolia?"

"Except the Mongols. They live there."

"Isn't that some sort of animal?"

"_No_, Sarah. That's a mongoose."


	7. A Newfound Purpose

** A/N OK, for this chapter (and the rest of the story, actually) I'm going with the assumption that fairy and human time is pretty much the same. As in, sleep at night, work in the day, have lunch in the middle of the day, etc. I KNOW it isn't correct, but it just makes it a lot easier. So, don't flame me saying "ur a bad riter, ur wrong, fairies sleep in the day" because I will pay no attention and sic my army of rabid Canadian beavers on you.******

**Pronunciation Guide:**

**Tarcil = [tar-kill]**

**Xanthus = [zan-thus]**

**Caith = [kay-th] (rhymes with faith)**

**Súil = [soo-el]**

CHAPTER SIX 

            It was almost midnight. Everything was quiet. Everyone was sleeping. Well, technically, the majority of "everyone" was sleeping. Everyone always forgets about insomniacs. But back to the story. Trouble woke up as suddenly and fully as if someone had shaken him. He sat up and wondered why he'd woken up. Then he remembered and wished he hadn't.

            He'd had a nightmare, a particularly bad one, but now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember exactly what it was about. Something about his family being killed, some maniac and that blasted prophecy. He lay back down and tried to sleep again.

He tossed and turned for a while, unable to get that fearful feeling out of his mind. He sat up, shivered and looked nervously around the room. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep here tonight, not after the nightmare. Then the strangest feeling came over him. He suddenly knew he'd feel safer outside in the ward, as odd as that sounded. He couldn't explain it, but he just knew it.

            He walked out into the dark ward where they'd figured out the prophecy and found Sebastian sitting on a windowsill, looking outside. He turned around as Trouble walked in, then did the oddest thing. He gave a little smile and murmured "Number three."

Trouble went to lie on the bed beside the window, but stopped when he saw Holly fast asleep on it. He walked to the bed on the other side of the window and found Sarah asleep there. He looked up, confused, and asked Sebastian "Why are you all out here?"

            Sebastian shrugged. "I'm an insomniac. I slept for a few hours, then I couldn't sleep any more. I came out here. For some fresh air, I guess. A while later, Holly came out. She'd had a nightmare and couldn't get back to sleep. She said she had this weird feeling that she'd be safer out here. Then, Sarah came out, same thing. And now you've come. Same story?"

            Trouble nodded. Sebastian shrugged and said "It must be that protector thing. Maybe you three feel safer around me." Trouble nodded thoughtfully. "Odd." commented Sebastian. Then he grinned at Trouble and indicated the bed on the other side of Sarah. 

            "Be my guest. I'm not gonna be sleeping tonight, so I'll do my protector duty instead." Trouble smiled and lay down. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Sebastian looked at Trouble, Holly and Sarah, all three fast asleep. "Very odd indeed." he murmured, then settled back against the window for a long night. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Holly stirred. The first thing she felt was that comforting presence that had brought her outside last night. By now, she'd figured out it was Sebastian. She opened her eyes and was almost blinded by all the light. She shut them and growled something under her breath. Someone made a frightened noise. A voice said to her "Hey, calm down. They just turned the lights on. Bloody adults. They never listen to children. I _told_ them you three were asleep in here, but they didn't listen." 

            She sat up and looked around. Sarah was asleep in the bed next to her and Trouble was asleep in the bed on Sarah's other side. Sebastian was still sitting on the windowsill in between her and Sarah. In front of him stood Foaly and an elf that she'd seen before, but didn't know. Foaly looked at her, then at Sebastian, then back at her. 

            "What just happened? I felt some magic going around, but I didn't see anything."

            Holly replied in a surprised voice "Sebastian just talked to me. Didn't you hear him?"

            Foaly said slowly "He never said anything."

            "Yes I did!"

            "We didn't hear it. You hear anything Ash?"

            The elf shook his head and replied "Not a thing." They all stared at each other for a minute, until Sarah sat up, looked around blearily and threw her spare pillow at Trouble, who groaned and flung it back, except he missed and hit Holly. Holly caught it and by the time she looked up, both Sarah and Trouble were fast asleep again.

            "That was weird." the new elf said. Sebastian looked at him curiously. Foaly noticed and said "This is Sergeant Ash Vein. Ash, this is Holly, Trouble, Sarah and Sebastian." He pointed each of them out. Holly nodded at him, then said to Foaly "But I _did_ hear Sebastian talking to me!"

            Foaly nodded thoughtfully and said "Maybe it was telepathic. His gift is he can talk to you three telepathically, perhaps." 

Holly nodded and said to Sebastian "Maybe you should test it out again? To make sure?" He nodded and was about to try, but an evil grin suddenly spread across his face. When Ash, Foaly and Holly looked at him questioningly, he jerked his head in Sarah's direction. They all grinned. Sebastian's gaze slid out of focus for a second. 

Sarah screamed and sat up, yelling "Stop shouting in my ear!" Sebastian looked at her and said cheerfully "Morning. Sleep well? I can telepathically communicate with you now. I was testing my gift when I woke you up. I take it it worked?"

Sarah gave him a look of pure venom and started flinging pillows at him. Grinning, he fended them off. He leaned against the window and accidentally hit the button that opened the top panel. Sarah grabbed the last pillow in a six-foot radius of her and threw it at him. She missed and the pillow flew through the open window, down to the street outside. 

They all froze, expecting to hear crashes and swearing from outside. Sebastian opened up the bottom panel and yelled down "Sorry about that! Could you just fling that back up?" A bemused fairy on the sidewalk below threw it back up to their second story window. 

"Thanks!" yelled Sebastian.

"No problem!" laughed the fairy.

Sebastian pulled himself and the pillow back through the window, then chucked it back at Sarah, who had, amazingly, gone back to sleep. He shrugged and leaned back against the window again. Ash, who had watched the entire scenario in amusement, grinned at him and said "You're the felon, are you? Seem very relaxed for a criminal."

Sebastian looked at him, gave him the scariest vampire smile and answered "So you think." Ash grinned again and shook his hand, then did the same to Holly. Foaly announced "Ash will be helping you when you're trying to find the Pendant. Rowan will too."

Suddenly, Trouble started thrashing around violently and yelling. They all jumped, except Sarah, who groaned, threw a pillow at Trouble and rolled over, fast asleep again. Foaly rushed over to Trouble's bed and started shaking him, until Sebastian yelled over Trouble's cries "Don't! You might make him blow everything up again!" 

Foaly stopped immediately and beckoned him over, then said to him "Try to calm him down with your mind connection whatsit." Sebastian nodded and his gaze again slid out of focus. Trouble slowly quietened, until he was still. Then he sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for breath. Between pants, he managed to say "Dream. Bad one. About the fifth fairy. Evil one. He's looking for it." The door at the end of the ward burst open and Rowan and Root ran through, shouting that they'd heard yelling and demanding to know what was going on. 

"THAT'S IT!" Sarah sat up and started pelting Root and Rowan with pillows, yelling "What does someone have to do to get some sleep around here?!?!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Once Sarah and Trouble had been calmed down, Root and Rowan were filled in on the new developments by Foaly, while Ash and the four teenagers listened and interjected important bits of information.

            "So Sebastian can telepathically communicate with the other three and I think they can back to him, but not to each other, clear?"

            "As mud. TELL US IN GNOMMISH FOALY!"

            Foaly sighed. "Sebastian to Holly, Sebastian to Trouble, Sebastian to Sarah, those work. Holly to Sarah, Sarah to Trouble, etc, those _don't_ work. Better?"

            "Yes, now hurry up and explain the rest."

            "Sebastian, as the protector, has a comforting effect on the other three." Noticing Root's look, he continued. "They feel safer around him. That's why they all came out here after they all had nightmares. To be near him. I don't think they understood it then, it was just instinct. Then when Trouble had _another_ disturbing dream, Sebastian was able to calm him down enough to wake him."

            "That's useful, since I'm guessing that Trouble will be having more of these dreams. Right?" Trouble winced and nodded. Rowan frowned and said "Wait, you said _all three of them_ had nightmares around the same time? A little more than coincidence, don't you think?"

            "It was him." Trouble said in a glum voice. "I saw it in my dream."

            "What? Explain. Clearly. With details."

            Trouble sighed and continued. "I saw a dark room. There was a plate on a table in the middle of the room, filled with water. A fairy stood in front of it, looking in it. He was angry, because he was trying to see something and he couldn't. Another fairy came in and asked him if he had seen the Pendant in the seeing glass yet. He called the first fairy Tarcil. Tarcil said he couldn't see it, no one would be able to, because there were spells protecting it. They would have to find it themselves. Then second fairy asked Tarcil if he knew anything about the bonded four yet. Tarcil said no and that they would have to wait and see. Then it ended. I don't know why, but it scared me. Tarcil scared me. He's the one. He's the fifth."

            Silence greeted this announcement. Root sighed. "All right. Vein, do some research on this Tarcil. See if you can find anything on him. Foaly, keep looking for information on the Pendant's location. The rest of you, go get some breakfast, then go home and pick up whatever you need."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            An hour later, they were all back in the ward, having gone home, packed a bag and told their families what was happening. Well, not _all_ of what was happening. Just that there was a problem with their magic and they'd be at the LEP's HQ for a while. Well, three of the four did, Sebastian just told them to drop him on a corner and he'd meet them back there. So his home life remained as mysterious as ever.

            In the ward, they all set about doing their work. Ash worked on his laptop while the rest of them read texts in hope of finding something more about the Pendant and what they had to do. Except Sarah. She was practising her magic. 

            Foaly was thumbing through a Gaelic-Gnommish dictionary. When Holly inquired as to what help that would do, he replied that he'd thought Halifirien might mean something in Gaelic and help them. It didn't. 

            "Hey Sebastian." Foaly said.

            "What?"

            "You know what your last name means in Gaelic?"

            "Darklighter I think."

            "Yup. Got a middle name?"

            "Yeah, but it's not Gaelic. Sebastian Xanthus Dubhéadrom."

            Foaly looked up and said in a funny voice "Normally I never believe in fate, but this. . ."

            "What?"

            "Xanthus is the name of an ancient spirit. A guardian. Essentially, a guardian angel. Makes sense with your job in the group. Hey, the rest of you have any middle names? It would make sense that the prophecy would have a plan B to draw attention to you guys, in case the million-thaum didn't work. Maybe you're all named after your jobs in the group."

            "Well, I'm Sarah Caith Nightshade."

            Foaly flicked through the pages. "Caith means "to cast". And you're the caster. Right again. Holly?"

            "Holly Súil Short."

            "Hmmm. Súil means eye. And you're the reader. Makes sense too if you think about it. Trouble?"

            "Trouble Taibh Kelp."

            "And what do you know, taibh means dream. That's amazing. Has to be fate, unless your parents knew about the prophecy, which they didn't."

            They went back to their work carried on researching like they had been doing before until Foaly gave a triumphant yell. 

            "I've got it!"

            "What?"

            "I've found a text that says where it was that Tarlang fought the evil fairy and Amiel told him about the second prophecy."

            "So where is it?"

            "Mongolia."

            "Mongolia?!?!"

            "What would a Celtic fairy be doing in Mongolia?"

            "What would _anyone_ be doing in Mongolia?"

            "Except the Mongols. They live there."

            "Isn't that some sort of animal?"

            "_No_, Sarah. That's a mongoose."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            "Mongolia?!?!"

            Root's reaction had been pretty much the same as theirs. 

            "Mongolia." confirmed Rowan.

            "Mongolia." groaned Root.

            Sarah asked "Do we even _need_ to go to Mongolia? We know Tarlang didn't hide the Pendant there."

            Rowan sighed. "We've got nothing else to go on. We might find a lead."

            "From a couple of hundred years ago? I doubt it" Foaly said sceptically.

            "In my dream, there was a _lot_ of spell damage. Rock faces, cliffs, hills. Blown up, chipped. That would all still be there." interjected Trouble.

            Root nodded. "He's right." he barked. He turned to Ash, Foaly and Rowan. "Short, Vein. You're going to Mongolia." They nodded. "With the four kids." They immediately started protesting.

            "They're too young!"

            "They could be in danger!"

            "They'll get in the way!"

            "SILENCE! _They're_ the ones in the prophecy, _they're_ supposed to be doing this, _you're_ going to go along with them. Now move it!"

            Ash, Rowan and Foaly trooped out the door to the Ops booth. Root turned to the four teenagers, deadly serious.

            "This could be dangerous. You're going above ground. That's never to be taken lightly. Do what Short and Vein tell you. Be careful. Go."

            Holly, Sarah and Trouble walked out the door. Sebastian was about to follow them, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

            "You've got more experience than they do. I know you have. Look after them." Root growled.

            He looked at him for a minute, then opened a drawer in his desk. "Against my better judgment, I'm going to give you back your weapons."

            "Thanks." Sebastian took them and in the blink of an eye, they were gone, hidden away again. He walked away, but stopped in the doorway when Root spoke.

            "You didn't hand it all over, did you? You're to smart to have left yourself unarmed."

            Sebastian grinned, nodded and walked out the door.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            In the Ops booth, Ash and Rowan had already taken all the supplies they needed. When Sebastian walked in, there was a furious debate going on between the teenagers and the adults. The adults didn't want the teenagers to be armed. The teenagers did.

            After five minutes of standing around idly and watching, Sebastian was fed up. He remarked to Trouble. "It's all right. You can borrow one of mine." That shut them up.

            Eventually, it was decided to give them a Neutrino each. Sebastian said it was fine, he'd use his own, which got him weird looks from everyone. Then Foaly rigged them all up with microphones and earpieces so they cold talk to each other and to him.

            Finally, they were all told they could bring their bag with whatever they needed. Sebastian immediately ran for his. No one commented, though they all raised their eyebrows when he set it down on the floor and it clanked.

            "What?" he asked defensively, noticing their stares. They shrugged.

            Sebastian sat down to wait outside the booth. Sarah, bored and messing around, snuck up behind Holly and started semi-strangling her. Through the window, they saw Sebastian's head jerk up and he ran into the Ops booth.

            When he saw everything was fine and no one was injured or dying, a confused look settled on his face. He started to ask something, but Foaly cut him off.

            "Another thing for the protector, I think. You can tell when they're in trouble?"

            "I guess. I knew it was Holly and I knew she was in trouble, but I didn't know how."

            "Useful. All right, to the shuttle port." Sebastian and Holly swung their bags onto their backs and followed the others out the door.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            At the shuttle port, Rowan cheerfully commandeered a shuttle from a wealthy visiting businessman. He took the starting chip from the elf at the desk and the group headed for chute E479.

            As they walked to the chute entrance, Ash filled Holly, Sarah, Sebastian and Trouble in on the facilities they could expect when they got to Mongolia. 

            "Zero. Zilch. Nada. It's basically a shack over the top of a hole in the middle of nowhere. That's it. So don't expect anything too comfortable."

            They reached chute E479. The shuttle had already been moved and was sitting on the rail, waiting for them. When she saw it, Sarah's eyes lit up with the most unholy gleam. She looked at Rowan and asked innocently "Can I try piloting it?"

            Holly and Trouble immediately protested.

            "Don't let her!"

            "She's a maniac!"

            "I'd rather live, thanks all the same." put in Sebastian. When they looked at him, he replied "I've seen you three in action at the skate park a few times. I suspected something was up with Sarah when she tried to run down those 20 year olds. And that dog. And that cat. And me."

            By now, everyone was grinning. Rowan said "I think it would be best if Ash and I did the piloting."

            "Fine." Sarah sulked. Sebastian walked by her and she screamed again and clapped her hands over her ears.

            "Stop doing that!" she glared at him.

            "Doing what? Are you hearing voices no one else is again? That has to be a bad sign." he replied innocently.

            "Uh-oh." They all turned to Ash, who was trying to open the shuttle door. It wasn't co-operating.

            "Damn. Must be one of those new models that need a chip to open the door and another for the ignition. Guy at the desk only gave me the starter chip."

            Sarah looked at Holly, who looked back innocently, not fooling anyone. Sarah hissed something at Holly, who insistently shook her head.

            "Will someone tell me what's going on?" asked Trouble in an exasperated voice.

            Holly gave in and said "Umm, I've been teaching myself to, umm . . ."

            "Pick locks." finished Sarah. 

            "What?!?!" asked Rowan.

            "It was just an accident to start with! Sarah forgot her house key and I used a paper clip on the lock. Well, actually, several paper clips. And you know Matt, the ex-con who lives beside us? He sorta helped me when I was practising on the garden shed."

            Rowan rolled his eyes and sighed. "All right. You can carry on learning. Just pick this lock for us and I'll say no more."

            Holly looked embarrassed. "I don't have my lock picks with me."

            "Use mine." Everyone turned to stare at Sebastian, who was digging through his pockets. He pulled out what looked like a tiny sewing kit.

            Holly took it and selected a pick. She was about to insert it into the lock when Sebastian quickly stopped her. "Don't. Something's weird. That protection sense of mine is going off again."

            Holly peered into the lock, then stood up. "It's wired. Electrified maybe." Everyone shuddered.

            "Now what?" asked Ash.

            "I'll short-circuit the security system on the lock." replied Sebastian.

            "You're not serious."

            "Am."

            "Where'd you learn how?"

            "Do you really want to know?"

            "Now that I think about it, I don't."

            "Here, hold my bag." Noticing the look on Ash's face, he said "It's fine, just don't make any sudden movements." He grinned and added "Just kidding."

            He dropped to the floor and pulled himself under the shuttle. A minute later, his muffled voice said "Anyone see anything that can be used to lever something open? A crowbar-ish type thing?"

            Rowan grabbed a small crowbar from a tool rack and passed it under. There was a clang as something metal fell open. Ash looked around nervously.

            "We could get in huge trouble for this, Rowan."

            "I know. But it's better than going back and asking for another shuttle. They'd probably give us a tiny one from a couple of centuries ago. These two better be good at this."

            Holly grinned and said "Don't worry. I'll get the door open."

            Sebastian's muffled voice called out again. "Tell me what happens when I pull this." The front headlight flashed on, then back off.

            "Front headlight flashed once. That good?"

            "Yup. The wire beside it is for the door. OK, that should do it." He pulled himself out from under the shuttle, stood up and dusted himself off.

            Holly got to work. In two minutes, the door was open and they were boarding the shuttle.

            Ash looked around and asked Rowan "Is this an Atlantean model? I can't tell, it must be a new one."

            "Hope not, they're always harder to drive. Dunno why, must be the seats. All right, who starts? You or me?"

            "You can. I'll do the return trip."

            Sebastian muttered "Return trip? My, aren't we optimistic."

**A/N Well? What do you guys think? REVIEW!**

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**AttackOfTheSpam: You're TheSpaminator, aren't you? If so, I love your story, the Seer and the Stag. Gaelic is interesting. But damn hard to remember. I speak from experience. I'm half Irish, lived there for six years. Two hours of Gaelic every bloody day. Yeah, Sameth did come from the Abhorsen series. Excellent books. Maybe I should have put that in the disclaimer. Wait . . . oh hell, I haven't done a sodding disclaimer yet!!! Oh well. Thanks for the complements on my technicals. Read the rest of the story and tell me what you think of the plot.**

**Liaranne: Thank you, thank you. Curb? Are you from the States? Coz I'm Irish and I learned it kerb. I actually spent a bit of time wondering who should be the protector, coz they're supposed to be the one who looks after them all. The stereotypically nice one. So I thought "Screw stereotypes, I'll make the protector a pessimistic criminal." I hope I made the right choice. *makes face* I love Sarah's character. Read the preview I'm putting on the end of this chapter. I think you'll like it. :)**

**Mage Kitty: I will change the category if you update ADTATFR in the next month. So there. *sticks tongue out* Yup, Sarah is funny. If you liked the last preview, read this one. :)**

**Mad Sam: Thanks, I try :)**

**Aly: Yes, I like the idea of the insane one with lots of magic. I write good because I am AG. Accidentally Gifted. Or so my English teacher tells me. I love the HGTTG books!!! Can't wait to see the film!**

**Preview:**

Sarah stood up and addressed the rest of the passengers. "Lady and gentlemen, welcome to Shuttle who knows what number, destination the middle of nowhere, AKA southern Mongolia. Please fasten your seat belts and relax. If at any time you become disoriented or sick, there's nothing we can do about that. Please do not ask to be allowed off, as we _will_ let you off. Into a boiling, bottomless pit of lava. If we should experience technical difficulties and are about to crash, please put your head between your knees and kiss your bum goodbye. Have a nice trip."


	8. Falling

            **A/N I can't help thinking, every time I post a chapter, how sad I am that I can write over 3,000 words per day and update almost everyday. Oh, well. I'm sure you people don't mind.**

** Oh yes, in this chapter a katana is mentioned for those of you who don't know what those are, it's the kind of sword used by Asian warriors. Samurai swords. Look for a picture of it on Google if you're still not sure and actually care. **

CHAPTER SEVEN 

            _Sebastian muttered "Return trip? My, aren't we optimistic."_

            Holly elbowed him. Rowan and Ash grinned. Rowan sat down in the pilot's seat, Ash beside him. The others sat in the back. Strangely enough, none of them took window seats except Sebastian.

            Sarah stood up and addressed the rest of the passengers. "Lady and gentlemen, welcome to Shuttle who knows what number, destination the middle of nowhere, AKA southern Mongolia. Please fasten your seat belts and relax. If at any time you become disoriented or sick, there's nothing we can do about that. Please do not ask to be allowed off, as we _will_ let you off. Into a boiling, bottomless pit of lava. If we should experience technical difficulties and are about to crash, please put your head between your knees and kiss your bum goodbye. Have a nice trip."

            She sat down and Foaly's voice came through their ear pieces. "You have a career as an air hostess ahead of you, Sarah. Very nicely done. I'm sure everyone feels better now."

            Trouble frowned and said "Sebastian doesn't." They looked at Sebastian. He was slightly pale and uneasy looking.

            "Sebastian? What's up?"

            "You know that new protector thing? Where I know when you're about to be, or are actually in, trouble? We're all about to go tumbling down a chute to the centre of the Earth in a craft we don't quite trust. It's like a constant hammering on the inside of my skull."

            They winced. "Ouch."

            "Sorry. I know it isn't really our fault, it's the prophecy, but still."

            "It's OK. I'll get used to it. It wouldn't be so bad if it was by itself, but no."

            Sarah asked curiously "What else do you have?"

            Sebastian replied sheepishly "I get motion sickness sometimes. Only on shuttles, though." Sarah gave a wicked grin and started bouncing up and down in her seat. Sebastian groaned and curled up in his seat, trying not to look at Sarah. Holly and Trouble hid grins, then grabbed Sarah and held her still.

            "You guys are such kill-joys." She muttered sulkily under her breath.

            Rowan clapped his hands and said "All systems go. Nothing wrong after the, ah _entrance difficulties_."

            "What entrance difficulties?" asked Foaly suspiciously.

            "Long story. Tell you later. We clear to go yet, Foaly?"

            "Yup. Hold on to your breakfasts, here you go!"

            They rolled slowly down the rail and into the chute entrance. Trouble gasped when he saw the chute. It wasn't as big as some others, but it was still impressive. They were impossibly small compared to its immense size.

            They fell into the chute, to be immediately buffeted by core winds and flares. The throbbing in Sebastian's head grew to a thunder storm, crashing around in his skull. Holly looked around the shuttle, using her new-found power. Rowan and Ash were excited to be out on a mission again and a bit nervous about it. They were also a little worried by being in a craft they'd never flown before, in a chute they'd never been in before.

            Sarah and Trouble were both half-way to terrified, but were still morbidly fascinated by it all. Holly also got the feeling that Sarah had done this before. She made a mental note to ask her about it later.

            Sebastian wasn't scared (he's _definitely_ done this before, I'll ask him about it too, she thought), but was looking extremely uncomfortable. No wonder, really. As she watched, his eyes closed and his head lolled forwards. 

            Sarah noticed too. She turned to Holly, noticed something else and frantically gestured at Trouble, who'd just done the same thing as Sebastian.

            Sarah spun to look at the pilots. Ash was already asleep and Rowan was almost gone. She turned back to Holly and shook her, but she was fast asleep too. Sarah looked around frantically. She was the only one awake. No one was piloting. And they were still falling.

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            She stopped, took several deep breaths and tired to decide what to do. She tried to contact Foaly, but like she'd guessed, there was too much interference form the flares. She contemplated the idea of flying the thing herself, but quickly discarded it. She didn't have a clue how to do it by herself.

            She unbuckled her belt and ran over to the controls. She anxiously looked around for a count-down screen she knew was here somewhere. There! Five minutes to impact, and falling.

            Sarah knew she'd need help to fly this thing. She'd wake whoever was sleeping the lightest. She looked at each of her sleeping comrades closely. She'd just about given them all up for dead when she noticed something about Sebastian. 

            Whereas everyone else's breathing was slow and even, his was completely irregular. He was also murmuring in his sleep. Of course! He had passed out from his protector sense overloading, or something, not from whatever had happened to the others.  
            She ran over to him and started shaking him, yelling in his ear all the while. This was no time for tact.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Through the thick fog surrounding him, Sebastian heard a voice calling him and that by-now-familiar tug at his subconscious. One of the other three was in trouble. He groaned "Do I _ever_ get a rest?" he wondered. Then he heard a voice in his head. Whoever it was was using their telepathic connection to talk to him.

            "Sebastian! Sebastian, wake up! I need your help!"

            He frowned. It was Sarah and she was sounding frightened. Odd. He'd have thought it would take a lot to get Sarah scared. Oh, well. He groaned and opened his eyes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Sarah shook Sebastian again and he finally opened his eyes. "Yes!" she said, though no one could have heard her. Sebastian looked around and his voice echoed in her mind.

            "What happened?"

            "I don't know! They all just conked out."

            "How long 'till we hit?"

            "Four minutes, by now."

            He stood up and staggered over to the controls and asked her "Can you fly this thing?"

            "If you help."

            "All right, let's try it."

            They pulled Ash and Rowan out of the seats and settled in themselves. Sarah ran her eyes over the controls. She grabbed the joystick and told Sebastian "I'll steer, you work the thrusters."

            He nodded and replied "Ready? Count of three. One. Two. Three!" He started up the thrusters while Sarah tried to control the rapidly descending craft. Sebastian thumbed the thrusters again, the twiddled the gyroscopes, so that the unconscious fairies didn't bring up their breakfasts. He'd never seen an fairy throw up while unconscious, but he was sure it wouldn't be pretty.

            Sarah was wrestling with the controls. The core winds and flares were making it extremely hard to steer. At least the chute was huge, so they wouldn't hit the walls all that easily. 

            A tense few minutes followed, as Sarah fought her battle for control of the craft while Sebastian watched nervously, occasionally thumbing the thrusters and trying to ignore the thundering racket in his head from his protector's sense and the queasiness in his stomach . 

            After what seemed like hours, a light on the control panel flicked from red to green. Sarah saw it and telepathically asked Sebastian what is was. When he saw it, he whooped in triumph and told her it was the autopilot and it meant they were out of danger. Sarah hit the button and they sank back into their seats.

            For a few minutes, they just sat there, until the roaring grew quieter. Sarah stood up and said "Let's try and wake the others." Sebastian nodded and got up. After a few wasted minutes that was mostly spent yelling in ears, they gave up. Sarah sighed and mused "What'll we do now?"

            Sebastian replied "Well, you're going to fly this thing to Mongolia and dock us for starters. Then we'll call Foaly, tell him what's happened and see what he thinks. Then, I dunno."

            Sarah sat down moodily in front of the controls. Sebastian looked up and asked "You _can_ fly and dock this thing, can't you?"

            "If you help."

            "Where'd you learn?"

            "My dad. He used to have his own business, in supply runs to the surface. For LEP stationed up there. There aren't too many, but enough to need fresh supplies every month or so. He used to bring me along for some runs."

            "Used to?"

            "He died. When I was 30."

            "Sorry."

            "It's all right. I don't remember much of the . . . _accident_."

            "You were with him? And you say accident like you don't believe it."

            "Yeah, I was with him. The LEP told me after that what I said happened was impossible. No shuttle had built-in weapons. They didn't believe me."

            "Why do I get the feeling you've never told anyone else about this and what really happened?"

            "Because I haven't. I told my grandmother, she deserves to know what really happened to her son."

            "Why haven't you told Holly? She's your good friend, isn't she?"

            "Yeah, but her dad's LEP. She's got a lot of faith in the LEP."

            "Ah. Well, they're all unconscious and it's a while till the surface. I get the feeling you want to talk about it."

            She sat thinking for a minute, then nodded. "Don't judge it, or me, until I'm done."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            "It had always just been my dad, his mother and me. My mother ran off when she found out she was expecting me. She only came back to leave me on my dad's doorstep, then she left again.

            "So my dad and me were always close. For a while, he'd bring me on almost every run. Then he started getting nervous about bringing me. I'll never know why. He brought me along less and less. Whenever I asked him, he'd only say something was happening and I'd know when I was older.

            "By this time, his business was bigger and he was making runs for private companies. Ones that are allowed a deserted area above ground for tests, or whatever. The "accident" happened on the trip back form a company in the middle of the Gibson Desert in Australia.

            "We were heading back down and we passed a craft that was just sitting still, stuck to the chute wall. When we passed it, it peeled off and followed us. It passed us, got in front of us and turned around so it was facing us. I got a pretty good look at it.

            "It was a custom job, all streamlined for speed. But the worst thing was, it had two guns mounted on it. And now it was between us and the chute exit.

            "It fired at us. Whatever it was shooting cut straight through the windshield. Dad had thrown me in the back as soon as he'd seen the craft. I watched as Dad got shot a few times. One of the things they were shooting landed on the floor beside me. Weird thing was, they were shooting little rocks at speeds that meant they'd kill you if they hit you.

            "I ran out to Dad, but he was already dead. The craft shot some big rocks with the other gun in at us, but they all missed me. Then it flew around us and headed for the surface.

            "I went to the control panel and hit the button Dad had installed a while ago. A second quartz pane slid down over the first, now covered in holes, one. I didn't know what to do after that. My father had been killed right in front of me, I was stuck in a shuttle halfway down a chute, surrounded by rocks and I didn't know what to do.

            "I think I passed out, because the next thing I remember was waking up in hospital with Grandma sitting beside me and telling me Dad was dead.

            "The LEP didn't believe me. They said we'd been hit by a rock shower. They told me I'd probably been hit on the head and imagined it all. I didn't bother arguing. They'd made up their minds."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            There was quiet when Sarah finished her story, except for the distant howl of core winds. Sebastian ran a hand through his spiked hair.

            "You got it hard. I didn't have to watch my parents die and I was too young to really understand it at the time."

            "Will you tell me your story?" Sarah asked curiously. Sebastian nodded.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            "I was a lot younger than you were, so I don't remember much about living with my parents. We lived a while outside of Haven, in the country, I guess it'd be called. One day, when I was 10, I went for a walk. I came back through the back door and found the kitchen covered in blood and my parents dead on the floor.

            "I was only little, I didn't understand it. I thought they were asleep or something stupid like that. I tried to wake them up for a while. Then, I just gave up. My father had a sword in his hand. I took it and left the house. I've never been back there.

            "I went to my grandfather's house, not too far away. He lived alone, my grandmother had died a few years before. He opened the door to find me standing there, splattered with blood, holding my father's sword (which was clean; he hadn't had time to use it) and crying that my parents wouldn't wake up.

            "He took me inside and then went to see for himself. When he came back, he called the LEP and told me that he'd tell me what had really happened, and why, when I was older.

            "He never got the chance. He died in his sleep when I was 15. I didn't want to be adopted or fostered, so I ran away. I lived on the streets after that. That's it."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            "That's it? Fine, I won't push it. So what do you think of my not-so-mysterious-anymore past?"

            "I think you're lucky."

            "Lucky?!?! I watched my father die and you say I'm _lucky_? You insensitive b-"

            "I _meant_," Sebastian continued calmly "that you're lucky because you actually got to know your father and spend some time with him. _And_ you have other family. _And_ you have a home."

            That shut Sarah up. She thought about it, then mumbled "Sorry. I wasn't really thinking. It's just . . .whenever I'm in a shuttle, I'm always reminded of that." She was silent for a minute, then asked quietly "Do you still have nightmares about it? I do." He nodded. She sighed, then brightened as she remembered something. 

            "You said you took your father's sword? Can I see it? Don't tell the others, but I have one too. I think it belonged to my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. Or maybe to his cousin. Or maybe to his accountant. Or maybe to-"

            Sebastian hurriedly nodded and said "If I can see yours." She rummaged around in her schoolbag and pulled something out. She looked up at him and frowned "You didn't say anything. You don't think it's weird I carry a sword around in my bag?"

            He shrugged. "I carry one in my pocket." They switched swords. Well, I say sword, but no human would recognize the objects Sebastian and Sarah were holding. The things they were holding looked like katana handles, without blades attached. They held the swords away from their bodies, flat end pointing away from anything. They thumbed invisible buttons and, with a _shiiik_ sound, blades appeared out the ends of the handles, like one of those collapsible plastic sword. Except _these_ blades were gleaming metal, and extended seamlessly into three foot long blades. Even from up close, they looked like a normal sword, no joins visible. Matchless workmanship. 

            Sarah asked without looking up "You know how to handle this?"

            "Yup. Have to. Used it a few times. You?"

            "I've never used it, but I know how." They thumbed the buttons again and handed the blades back to its original owner. The swords disappeared again, into a bag or a pocket. Their owners leaned back against their seats. Suddenly Sarah frowned. Sebastian noticed. "What?"

            "I was just thinking. Don't you think it's a bit suspicious that every member of our group is knocked out at the same time, while we're on a mission to save the world?"

            "Yeah, but that's just paranoid me. How d'you think it was done? And why aren't we out?"

            "Well, I know you aren't out because you were already unconscious, from your sixth sense overloading." Noticing his confused expression, she elaborated. "Your protector sense,. And me, well, it must be to do with how I have magic now. The others, I don't know. I hope they're OK."

            "They will be. They're all alive. It's almost like they're asleep. Except creepier."

            Sarah's gaze slid out of focus and she said slowly "Asleep . . . that's it! You're a genius, Sebastian!" 

            He said in a mystified  voice "Maybe, but I still don't understand. What's it?"

            Sarah rolled her eyes and said "For a genius, you can be really _thick_ sometimes. They're asleep! Someone found out about this little trip and decided to kill us. Well, we would be dead, except they forgot about my magic and your sixth sense. But how did they do it? Hmmm, if we find out, we can reverse it.  Well, whatever it was wasn't injected, or eaten, or we would've gotten it. So it could have been breathed in."

            "So this Tarcil person managed to put sleeping gas in our shuttle? How could he have done that?" asked Sebastian sceptically.

            "Well, he could have known we were going to go to Mongolia eventually. So he probably rigged the tunnel, not the shuttle. He couldn't have known we'd take that shuttle."

            Sebastian suddenly exclaimed "You're right! Most shuttles that are younger than a few centuries don't use tank air, they have vents to take in outside air, cool it down, then put it through the shuttle."

            "So all he did was put some chemical grenade in the chute entrance and set it so it would go off when the doors opened. The gas was taken in here and we all breathed it in, except you were already unconscious and my magic stopped it from working on me." Sarah completed triumphantly. "I am such a genius to have figured that out." she mused to herself.

            Sebastian rolled his eyes and looked at the control panel. "It's still forty minutes to the surface. Will we try and wake them now, with whatever the shuttle has, or wait?"

            Sarah thought about it, then said "Ash said there was nothing up there. So we might as well try now. Let's find the medical kit now."

            They started searching through cabinets and drawers. Sebastian looked up from his cabinet and remarked "There's enough food in here to feed an army for a month

            "That's useful. _Don't_ eat any of it!" He swallowed his mouthful and looked at her innocently. She rolled her eyes and swiped some food as well, grinning evilly at him, daring him to protest. Wisely, he didn't. 

"Besides," she said through a mouthful of cold pizza "you shouldn't be eating anything with that motion sickness of yours." She grinned evilly at him and continued "You'd probably aggravate your condition."

            She pulled out a large box with the words "MEDICAL SUPPLIES" stamped across it. "Hey, Seb, I found it." He glared at her and said slowly "Don't. Call. Me. Seb. It's. Sebastian."

            "Whatever. You, punk over there, come here, I found it. Better?"

            "Oh, much." he replied dryly. He walked over to help her look through it. Sarah set it down on a seat. "Finally, we're getting somewhere." she muttered.

            That was when Trouble started screaming.

**A/N Does that count as a cliff-hanger? I'm sure you all know what's happening to Trouble. REVIEW! Tell me in your review what's happening if you're so proud of your own genius.**

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Mage Kitty: Yes, I liked it too. :) I would never be a flight attendant, coz it seems a really bad job. Never being home, never having time on a computer, always having to be nice to people (but what self-respecting flight-attendant actually follows that rule?). By the way, I'm changing the second category to humour. Happy now?**

**Maria: Yeah, I think Sarah's my favourite character. I'll try and give her a lot of funny lines.**

**Liaranne: You think _Sebastian_ is funny? When I read your review, I went back over the chapter I'd just posted to try and find a funny line that came from Sebastian. I didn't find one. What bit are you talking about? I try to write Sarah funny, but if Sebastian is, it was accidental. About Sebastian, yeah, I was worried about that. I overdid his part a bit in the last chapter. But if the last chapter was his, this one's Sarah's. Not too many funny lines though. :( I wasn't feeling too happy. As for the male Mary Sue, I'm gonna try and change that. He's really grumpy in the next chapter. And for the last bit of your review, about Sebastian's motion sickness, I pre-write all my work, and I was half-way through Chapter 8, and I'd already given him motion sickness. Creepy . . . Great minds think alike, I guess.**

**Preview:**

Sarah said in amazement "Wow. I don't know anyone who can get to sleep that fast. Although, most of the people I know I've never watched sleeping, that would be juts creepy, so if you think about it, I don't know how fast people get to sleep at all. What is the normal speed people get to sleep? What _is_ normal? What-"

"SARAH! SHUT UP AND STOP RAMBLING!" The other three yelled in unison.


	9. The True Dangers Of Frying Pans

**A/N Blargh. I only got one review for the last chapter. :( Lowest review count per chapter ever. Make up for it, people!******

CHAPTER EIGHT 

            _That was when Trouble started screaming._

            Sarah jumped about two feet in the air and Sebastian jumped backwards, tripped over the co-pilot's seat and fell down. Sarah recovered first, ran over to Trouble and started shaking him, hoping his magic wouldn't kill them all.

            Trouble gave one last yell, then sat up, looked around and blinked. He turned to Sarah and asked in a confused voice "What did I miss?" He was then even more confused when Sarah started cheering, dancing around and yelling "Someone else is awake!" Sebastian stood up and shrugged helplessly at Trouble, with an expression that said "I really don't know what's wrong with her and I don't think I want to."

            Trouble looked around more carefully and noted the three unconscious fairies. "All right, what happened when I was asleep?" Sarah and Sebastian quickly filled him in. When they'd finished, Sarah mused "I wonder if the others will wake up by themselves?" 

            Trouble shook his head. "I doubt it. I only woke up because I had one of those dreams again." They immediately turned to him and asked what he'd seen.

            "It was that Tarcil fairy again. He was laughing and telling an elf how the bonded four would be dead by now. And how everything had gone according to plan. Then, I was flying. Above ground, over a deserted country-side. It was the same one from my first dream, where Tarlang met Amiel. Mongolia, I guess. I was flying faster than is possible and I wasn't steering myself. I flew over a hilly grassland-ish place, then beside a river, then into a gorge. There was a house cut into the rock. I landed in front of it. The door was closed, but when I spoke a word to it, it opened. Then the dream stopped. I don't know why it was frightening, but it just was."

            Sebastian passed him a bottle of water and a piece of cold pizza. Trouble quickly ate half the piece before he frowned and asked "Where'd you find this?" 

            Sebastian nodded at the cabinet. "There's enough food in there to feed an army for a month." Trouble nodded and quickly finished off the rest of his pizza. He leaned back against his seat and rubbed his eyes. And then Holly started yelling.

            Sebastian fell off his chair again, Trouble just about jumped out of his skin and Sarah ran over to Holly and shook her like she had done to Trouble.

            Holly sat up, looked around and said blearily "I had the weirdest dream. What happened? And why are Dad and Ash unconscious? Who's flying this thing?" Sebastian passed her some food and replied "You were all knocked unconscious by some chemical gas that got in the air vent, Ash and Rowan are still out from it and this thing is being flown partially by the auto-pilot, partially by Sarah."

            She blinked at him, shrugged and ate the food. Halfway through her meal, she remembered something and spat her food out.

"You're letting _Sarah_ fly this thing? Are you suicidal?!?!"

He shrugged and grinned. "At least I'm not homicidal." 

"Good point. But still. _Sarah_. At least there's no one else in this chute, or they'd be dead by now. Don't you know how bad her road rage is? Oh well. We're still alive anyway." 

Trouble grinned, then told her about his dream and asked her what hers had been about.

            She swallowed her last mouthful and began. "It wasn't really images, just feelings. It was about Tarcil. I dunno how I knew, I just did. He was planning something, then he was really happy about whatever he had been planning. I guess it worked. Then he was frustrated because he couldn't find something. The Pendant, probably. And after that he was angry because someone didn't do what he'd told them to do. Afterwards he decided to do something. I don't know exactly what, but it had to do with killing someone. Then I woke up."

            Trouble nodded, impressed. "Another gift for the reader, then. That'll be really helpful if you can sort of tell what he's thinking. Or feeling, at least." 

Holly nodded thoughtfully, then said "Now. Tell me what happened when I was asleep."

Sarah filled Holly in on what had happened. They all ate some more in silence for a while, then Trouble asked "So what'll we do when we get to the surface?"

             Holly said "Eventually, we have to follow the path in your dream and go to that house. But first, we should contact Foaly. I take it the flares knocked out communications?"

            "Yup. We'll arrive in . . .  fifteen minutes, so we can contact him then"

            Sebastian yawned. When he saw the other three's amazed stares, he said defensively "I got almost no sleep last night, remember? Normally I wouldn't be tired the next day, but this bloody motion sickness . . ." He lay down across a row of seats and was asleep in about 3.5 seconds.

            Sarah said in amazement "Wow. I don't know anyone who can get to sleep that fast. Although, most of the people I know I've never watched sleeping, that would be just creepy, so if you think about it, I don't know how fast people get to sleep at all. What is the normal speed people get to sleep? What _is_ normal? What-"

            "SARAH! SHUT UP AND STOP RAMBLING!" Trouble, Holly and Sebastian yelled in unison. 

            She stared at them, then said "Fine, fine." Then she turned to Sebastian and said smugly "I knew you weren't really asleep." No reply. She poked his shin. Still no reaction. She poked harder. He _can't_ have fallen asleep again. Time for drastic action, she decided.

            "Seb. Seb, wake up. Seeeeeb." Not a movement. Must be dead, she decided. She shrugged and turned to the other two, who were doing to Ash and Rowan what she had been doing to Sebastian. Except without the annoying nickname part. Ash and Rowan weren't waking up either. 

            She sighed and sat back down on the chair beside the open storage cabinet, bored. She poked half-heartedly through it. Her eyes lit upon an object and she brightened. The evil grin returned to her face in full force. She grabbed it and crept up behind Holly. 

Trouble was examining the control panel. He heard stifled giggles and Holly say "What the- Sarah! Don't you d-". Whatever she was saying was cut off by a _thwaaaang_ sound, a thud and Sarah's hysterical laughter.

He turned around to find a hysterical Sarah standing over a cross-eyed Holly sprawled on the floor. Sarah stopped laughing long enough to look at the frying pan in her hand and remark thoughtfully "This thing has decent acoustics, really." Then she dissolved into giggles again.

            Trouble couldn't help it. He really couldn't. He burst out laughing as Holly pulled herself to her feet and, still slightly cross-eyed, started chasing Sarah around the shuttle. He stopped laughing when something whacked him on the back of the head with a _thwaaaang_.

            Holly glared at him. "That'll teach you to laugh at me." She was smiling, though. Just then, a loud beeping filled the shuttle. Sarah snatched the frying pan back from a distracted Holly and ran over to the control panel.

            "We're approaching the surface." she announced. "I'll dock us. You guys just tell me if I'm going to hit anything." Holly and Trouble looked at each, unsure of whether to trust Sarah with a craft capable of exceeding speeds of 200 km/h. Holly sat down in the co-pilot's seat and said firmly "I'll help. You'll steer and I'll do the thrusters?"

            Sarah nodded, already concentrating on the approaching exit tunnel. Trouble, feeling rather useless, sat down across the aisle form the slumbering Sebastian. Feeling braver than the first part of the journey, he took the window seat. He watched the rock walls fly past. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. A shiver of fear passed down his spine, but when he looked again, there was nothing there.

            Holly slowed the shuttle down a bit, much to Sarah's disappointment. Sarah twiddled the joystick, pointing the nose of the shuttle towards the exit ramp. Holly thumbed the thrusters, giving them a burst of speed to take them the last bit of the way. 

Trouble was by now very freaked out. Every time he turned his head away, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Could another craft hide, unseen by us, in the chute, he wondered. He gave up trying to keep his cool and ran up to the control panel. Holly noticed his expression and was about to ask him what was wrong, when Sarah muttered "Holly, you're going too fast." 

Holly slowed them down even more. Sarah had her tongue between her teeth and was gently steering them through. Holly, fed up, punched the thrusters and, because Sarah had carefully pointed them in the right direction, they zoomed through the hole, into the exit tunnel. The sudden increase sent them all flying backwards. Holly, who had been expecting it, was fine and even laughed. 

Sarah and Trouble however, weren't expecting it. Sarah was OK, she was sitting down and was only almost strangled by her safety belt, but Trouble went flying backwards until he hit the back wall and slid down it. Holly turned around in her seat and said apologetically "Sorry, Trouble. Didn't know you were there. You OK?"

"Never better." he grunted as he pulled himself to his feet. He looked nervously out the window, but was relieved to find that they were now sitting in the shuttle port. "C'mon, let's get outta this shuttle." He grinned and said to Sarah "You can wake Sebastian up." Sarah grinned and grabbed the frying pan, which could now safely be considered hers. Holly and Trouble opened the doors and jumped out. 

Like Ash had said, it was tiny. It was also deserted. It was basically one big square room, with a corner cordoned off . That was where they'd just come from; the chute entrance tunnel. They stood on one side of the room. The lift to the surface was opposite them. There was a counter running along another wall, where they guessed drinks and food had been served at one time. There were a few tables scattered around. The remaining wall was all cupboards and storage cabinets. That was it.

Holly and Trouble looked at each other with raised eyebrows. While it wasn't exactly a shack over a hole in the ground, like Ash had said, it was still primitive, probably from at least half a millennium ago. From inside the shuttle came a series of noises that suggested the frying pan was being put to good use. Then Sarah flew out the door landing in a heap between Holly and Trouble. They pulled her to her feet as an extremely grumpy looking Sebastian walked out. 

He looked around the shuttle port and said "You woke me up for _this_? I'm going back to sleep." Holly grabbed his arm and spun him around. "You can't go back to sleep, we have to contact Foaly. We need to get Ash and Dad awake." Sebastian scowled, but gave in. 

"Fine. I'll make sure the communications rig is working." He stomped back into the shuttle. Sarah said cheerfully "Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Or seat. Or whatever." Trouble rolled his eyes. At least Sarah was as perky as ever. 

"Sarah, check the port to see if there's anything we can use. Equipment or communication stuff." Holly told her. Then she turned to Trouble "We'd better get Dad and Ash out here." He nodded and followed her back onto the shuttle. Sebastian was hunched over the communications control panel, muttering darkly under his breath. They steered clear of him. 

Trouble bent to pick up Ash's shoulders, while Holly went for his legs, when the by-now-far-too-familiar sound of the frying pan being used on something drifted in from outside. From the sound of it, Sarah was getting more enthusiastic with it by the second. Trouble sighed and strode over to the door. 

He yelled to Sarah "Stop doing tha-" His shout died down as a shocked expression came over his face. "Holly, Sebastian. I think you should come take a look at this." Sebastian growled something that will not be repeated here and walked over to stand beside him. The scowl fell off his face as he too looked shocked. Holly walked over beside them and her mouth fell open.

Sarah, still clutching the frying pan, was leaning over an unconscious sprite who was sprawled by the lift to the surface. No prizes for guessing why he was unconscious. Sarah was prising a Neutrino from his hands. Getting it free, she threw it across the room and thoughtfully regarded her comatose victim. She gave him one last whack on the head to be safe.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sarah looked up, saw them standing there, with their jaws around their ankles and said cheerfully "I was poking through the cupboards like you told me to. I was standing behind the lift door when this guy crept out. He took out a Neutrino and was heading for the shuttle. He didn't see me, so I clobbered him a few times. He went out like a light. Unhealthy, probably. Couldn't take a few whacks."

Trouble murmured "No, I think he just couldn't take you." He and Holly looked at each other, unsure what to do. Holly flicked her eyes at Sebastian. Trouble nodded. He turned to Sebastian and said "What do we do now?"

Sebastian looked taken aback. "Why's it my call?"

"Because you're the criminal. You have more experience with this sort of stuff."

Sebastian glared at him, but replied anyway. "Fine. Tie him up."

"With what?"

"My gods, people! _Anything_! Rope, string, cable, wire, shoelaces, whatever! And Sarah said _I_ was thick!" Holly and Trouble slowly backed away from him. He noticed, threw his hands in the air and stomped back into the shuttle. He reappeared a minute later with a roll of cable. 

He walked over to the sprite and dropped the cable on the floor. He did a quick search through the sprite's pockets. It revealed a few assorted weapons, which he put with the Neutrino, and a wallet. He passed the wallet to Holly, who flipped through it. He was about to tie up the sprite, when he stopped to think. Then he pulled the sprite's boot off. 

Sarah gagged and gasped something about the smell, but Sebastian ignored her and upended the boot. A small portable computer fell out. He passed that to Holly too. Then Sebastian dragged the sprite over to one of the tables and pulled him into a sitting position against the table leg. He was about to tie him to it when Sarah said in a satisfied voice "Well, that proves it."

            He looked up. "Proves what?"

            "That you're our real friend."

            "How does dragging an unconscious sprite across a room prove I'm your real friend?"

            "Well, you know what they say."

            "No, not in this case."

"Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies." Sebastian rolled his eyes, pulled the sprite into a sitting position against the table leg, then tied him to it. When he'd finished, he stood up and looked at the others. 

"Find anything?"

Holly shook her head and continued flipping through the wallet. "He's got quite a bit of Mud Man money, which is odd, and even more fairy money. Nothing else. Other than a few of those Mud Man whatsits, those little plastic cards."

"Credit cards?" supplied Sarah.

"That's them. Weird. I mean, sprites are the hardest to pass off as Mud Men. Other than the three foot tall and pointy aspects, they're green _and_ they've got wings."

"So maybe it isn't his wallet." put in Sebastian. "Didn't that occur to you?" Seeing their blank looks, he rolled his eyes and said "I swear, you three need to get outside and _live_ a little."

"Excuse us if our definition of "live" doesn't involve criminal activity." Holly retorted. 

Trouble quickly intervened to prevent things getting messy. Holly and Sebastian were glaring daggers at each other. He stepped between them and said "Look, cool it. We're all in this together. We need to figure out a way outta here before we end up like that." He pointed at the sprite.

Sebastian raised his eyebrows. "Brained by an insane teenager with a cooking utensil?" 

Sarah glared at him. "I resent that."

Trouble intervened again. "Would you all stop jumping at each other's throats? In case you hadn't noticed, we're alone in the middle of nowhere and people are trying to kill us. We're in danger, even if one of them is unconscious."

"Wrong." Sarah remarked.

Trouble frowned. "Why?"

Sarah pointed her frying pan at the trussed-up sprite. "He's not unconscious."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Holly and Trouble pushed Sebastian towards the sprite. "Thanks." Sebastian muttered dryly.

"Hey, you're the protector. Do your thing. Protect us." Holly told him. Sebastian's scowl grew darker as he walked over to the sprite. He crouched down in front of the rapidly-waking sprite.

The sprite groaned and slurred "What hit me?"

"Someone with a frying pan." Sebastian replied.

"You're kidding, right?" The sprite opened his eyes and exclaimed "You're just a kid!" 

"So's the one with the frying pan."

The sprite groaned and half-heartedly strained at the cable tying him to the table.

"Face it, no point trying to escape." remarked Sebastian. "You've got nowhere to go. And besides, even if you _do_ get out of those cables, we're here."

"Four pathetic teenagers?" sneered the sprite.

"Four pathetic, trigger-happy teenagers. " corrected Sebastian, pulling out his Neutrino and twirling it expertly round his fingers. Holly pulled hers out and fixed the setting, while Trouble did the same. Sarah just twirled her frying pan, grinning evilly at the sprite, who gulped nervously, obviously remembering his previous encounter with the frying pan.

Sebastian noticed this and said "You and I will have a nice little chat. But remember, I've got a gun and she's got the frying pan."

Holly gestured at Sarah and Trouble to continue what they'd been doing. She and Trouble went back into the shuttle. Holly grabbed Ash's legs while Trouble grabbed him by the shoulders. They staggered outside with him and dumped him unceremoniously on the floor in the middle of the room.

They groaned and stretched, then went back in for Rowan. Trouble made to get the starter chip, but Holly said "It'll lock the shuttle if you take it. And we don't want to go through all that again to open it. Besides, I don't think Sebastian would oblige. C'mon, let's get Dad outside."

They deposited Rowan beside Ash. They turned to look at the other two. Sarah was still happily poking through the cabinets, while Sebastian and the sprite were talking vehemently.

Trouble murmured quietly to Holly "I've been thinking about what Sebastian said." Holly rolled her eyes. Trouble gave her a questioning look. She sighed.

"It's just . . . I dunno, really. A criminal has to help save the world? Talk about ironic."

"I know. But still, he and Sarah saved our lives on the shuttle. That counts for something, doesn't it? Anyway, about the sprite's wallet. Maybe he _did_ steal it. Maybe he isn't here to kill us, but to get away himself."

Holly looked at him sceptically. Trouble continued "Remember you said that in your dream, Tarcil was angry because somebody didn't do what he told them to? Maybe it's this sprite. Maybe he didn't want to do what Tarcil told him, so he stole his wallet for some fairy money. Then left? Maybe he came here to hide below ground."

"That's a lot of maybes. Well, we won't know until Sebastian's done talking to him. Let's go see what Sarah's found."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sarah was having the time of her life poking through the cabinets. So they were stuck above ground in the middle of nowhere, with two unconscious adults and at least two people out to kill them, one of whom being trussed up in the same room as them. So what? Some people said Sarah didn't notice what happened in the world around her. They were wrong. She did notice. She just didn't care. 

Out of the corner of one eye, she could see Sebastian talking to her captive. Out of the corner of the other, she could see Trouble and Holly lugging Ash and Rowan out of the shuttle. They stopped for a minute to talk quietly, then headed her way.

Ooops, better look like I'm actually doing something, she thought. She looked quickly around the open cabinet, grabbed a random object without looking at it, bent over and stuck her head in the cabinet. Someone came up behind her and, without looking round, she thrust the random object at them and said in an exasperated voice that (to Sarah) sounded like she had too much work to do, "Here, hold this." She passed out some more random objects. "And these."

Trouble looked in confusion at the ball of string and the metal spoons in his hands. "Uh, Sarah? What were you planning to do with these?"

"Can't you tell?" an exasperated voice replied. Holly hid her grin and pulled Sarah out of the cabinet. Sarah looked at what Trouble was holding and quickly thought up an answer to his questioning gaze.

"Using mainly spoons, I aim to dig an escape tunnel to another, better equipped shuttle port with actual fairies there."

"And the string?"

"I'll roll it out behind me and follow it back if I get lost!" Sarah replied triumphantly. Holly was in a fit of silent laughter and a smile was spreading across Trouble's face. Just then, Sebastian walked over. Judging by his expression, he was still in a bad mood. He stopped beside them.

"After threatening him, he spilled."

"What did you threaten him with?"

"Death by the frying pan. Seemed appropriate at the time."

"So what did he say?"

"Tarcil told him to come out here and wait in case we survived, and to kill us if we did. This whole port is rigged with explosives."

**Dum dum dum. Oh no, what shall they do? Tell me what you think of the whole frying pan storyline, I thought it was a little random, but then I decided it was funny, so it could stay. Review!**

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Liaranne: Thank you for your v. nice review. I did try to concentrate more on Holly an Sarah. Now all I need to do is give Trouble a chapter, then I can make them all equal again. I thought Sarah and Sebastian's stories were a bit too dramatic, but I think they worked in the end. Trouble is having a nightmare, good guess. Ah, now I understand the bit about Sebastian being funny. I never thought of it that way. **

**Preview:**

"No, Sarah, never mind. By the way, did you find anything useful in the cabinets?"

"Yup." There was a silence as they waited for her to elaborate. After a few minutes, it became clear she'd forgotten to. 

"Well?"

"You'll never believe this. . ." She dug in a box. "More frying pans!"

Sebastian heard Sarah's joyous shout from across the room and commented "We'll all be dead before Foaly gets here. Either from Sarah braining us all, or eating only fried foods and dying of cholesterol poisoning."


	10. Just Something To Do

**A/N I know I'm late with the update, I apologize, but I got a bit behind in my writing. Bloody writer's block. Also, I'm back to school on Monday, so updates will be slower. **

** A note about last chapter. I very stupidly forgot that fairies are only three foot high and said that the sword blades were three foot long. Thank you to Mage Kitty for pointing that out. Make the blades about a foot long, then. And here's a bit I forgot to put in the last chapter:**

CHAPTER NINE 

            _"This whole port is rigged with explosives."_

            Holly, Trouble and Sarah jumped and looked around nervously. Sebastian continued "It's all right, Sarah knocked the trigger form his hand when she clobbered him. I've got it here. I disabled it." They all relaxed.

            "Tarcil also told him to follow the path we would take. But this guy didn't want to. He decided to split. So he nicked a security guard's wallet because he needed the money and decided to rig the port, then disappear with the money. But as we all know, Sarah put paid to his bid for escape."

            There was silence for a minute as they tried to decide what to do. Sarah, whose mind worked in uncomplicated ways, asked "Can I hit him again?" 

Sebastian replied thoughtfully "I'm sure there's some sort of treaty saying prisoners of war can't be tortured." Holly and Trouble tried to smother their laughter, but Sarah paid them no attention.

            "Just once? He _was_ going to kill us. Don't you think he deserves it?"

            Holly controlled her laughter and said firmly "_No_, Sarah. Sebastian, would you try and find out some more from him? Like where Tarcil is and if there's any friendly fairies around here?" She and Trouble held their breaths, but Sebastian nodded and walked off. They exhaled with a sigh of relief. Sarah gave them interested looks. "Asthma, is it?"

            "No, Sarah, never mind. By the way, did you find anything useful in the cabinets?"

            "Yup." There was a silence as they waited for her to elaborate. After a few minutes, it became clear she'd forgotten to. 

            "Well?"

            "You'll never believe this. . ." She dug in a box. "More frying pans!"

            Sebastian heard Sarah's joyous shout from across the room and commented "We'll all be dead before Foaly gets here. Either from Sarah braining us all, or eating only fried foods and dying of cholesterol poisoning."

            Trouble and Holly laughed, while Sarah looked confused. She had the feeling Sebastian had just insulted her, but she wasn't sure. Holly turned to Trouble and Sarah and said "Shall we try and contact Foaly now?" They nodded and started walking towards the shuttle. Sarah lagged behind and went to swipe a few more frying pans, but out of nowhere, Sebastian's voice whispered in her ear "I wouldn't do that if I were you." She shrieked and, without turning around, swung the frying pan over her head to try and whack him. 

            She turned around and saw there was no one there. Sebastian was still on the other side of the room, talking to the sprite. She would have thought she was going mad, if she hadn't already known she wasn't _exactly_ normal and if she hadn't seen Sebastian's mouth curl into that little smile of his. 

            She contemplated walking over to him and trying to bludgeon him with one or more frying pans, but decided against it. It seemed too far to walk. So she settled for flinging a frying pan at him. 

            Sebastian looked up and saw something, filling his field of vision, flying towards him. He ducked, just in time. On the ground, he looked at the thing beside him. It was a frying pan. Should have guessed, he told himself. 

            "Someday soon, you'll get yours, Sebastian Dubhéadrom!" Sarah yelled.

            "All right, but when I do, make sure you bury me deep." he yelled back.

            The sprite turned his head to look at Sebastian. "Sebastian Dubhéadrom? _You're_ Sebastian Dubhéadrom?"

            "What's it to you?" replied Sebastian guardedly.

            "I didn't know you were a kid, that's all."

            "You've heard of me? I'm not famous or anything."

            The sprite snorted. "After you pulled that heist at Macmillan Corp, I'd say you are. In the underworld at least."

            Everyone was staring at Sebastian by now, who's face was, like it had been when they first met him, expressionless. "What heist?"

            "Don't play dumb. Doesn't suit you after _that_ job. You know Macmillan Corporation? Totally corrupt and almost all of their work is stolen from smaller companies? Sound familiar?" Everyone nodded, but Sebastian didn't move a muscle.

The sprite continued. "But I always wondered something. It wasn't for the money, I know that. Everyone knows what happened to the money. Many charities publicly received large, anonymous, donations the day after the heist was pulled. You did that on purpose, didn't you? You knew that Macmillan couldn't take the money back, not only is it unethical, but it's also illegal. And when the LEP investigated the heist, they found all the evidence they needed to put all the top execs in jail for corruption and theft. Very nicely done.

"So if it wasn't for the money, was it a grudge job? Someone you know got fired? Something you designed got stolen? Why was it? Go on, tell us." 

Sebastian shrugged. "You pulled one of the biggest heists in the last century and you don't know why?"

"It doesn't matter. I did it, I got away with it, the execs are in jail where they belong and the charities have money. End of story." 

"Did you get _anything_ out of it?" asked the sprite curiously.

"Yeah. I got a kick out of it." He said sarcastically. "Enough about me, let's talk about you. I would remind you that Sarah, AKA berserker armed with frying pan, just found a whole _box_ of frying pans. Should you choose not to co-operate, believe me when I say the consequences will be dire."

            Sarah walked over to Holly and Trouble, who had watched the entire scene from the door of the shuttle. Sarah stepped inside and looked at them. They were looking shocked. She gestured to Sebastian and the sprite outside and said "That? You're surprised by it?"

            They nodded. She shrugged. "Are you really that surprised? Anyway, does it make a difference?" 

            "Not really." Holly mused. "I just didn't know he did stuff that big. All right, let's finally contact Foaly." They turned to the communications board and found that, as well as checking it over, Sebastian had helpfully left a piece of paper with instructions on it. Trouble took it and read it over. 

            "OK, doesn't look too hard. Turn on." He hit a button and the board lit up.

            "Type in number." He typed in the number for Police Plaza.

            "LEP Headquarters, how can I help you?" a bored voice said.

            "Can I talk to Foaly, please? Tell him it's urgent. This is Trouble Kelp."

            "Hold please." The voice droned. They waited. Finally, Foaly's voice came over the speakers. "Trouble? Are you OK? Are the others? Where are you? Flares knocked communications out and I couldn't contact you. What's happening?"

            Trouble replied "I'm fine, some of the others are too, we're in the shuttle port, I know, we tried contacting you too and it's a long story."

            Foaly was silent for a minute then said "What was that?"

            "The answers to all your questions, in order."

            "Explain properly, the Commander's here now too." Trouble set off on the lengthy explanation of all that had happened, helped by Holly and Sarah.

            Finally, he stopped talking. Foaly and Root were silent, then Root bellowed, nearly deafening them all, "HOW IS IT THAT YOU FOUR MANAGE TO GET IN THE LARGEST AMOUNT OF TROUBLE IN THE SMALLEST AMOUNT OF TIME?!?!" 

            Foaly hurriedly said "Commander, calm down. They're alone up there and people are tying to kill them. I don't think they're feeling all that perky."

            "I am!" Sarah remarked cheerfully.

            "Yes, well you're . . . never mind. Look, I'm not sure what to do about Ash and Rowan, they should have woken up by now. Holly and Trouble woke up because of their gifts, but since Ash and Rowna aren't part of the prophecy, I don't know. Yelling in the ear didn't work?"

            "Nope, we tried that." 

            Foaly sighed. "Can I talk to Sebastian? Need to ask him something." Holly went outside to get him. Sarah asked Foaly "Have you ever heard of the Macmillan Corp heist?"

            Foaly and Root both snorted. Foaly replied "I'd say so. We're still trying to find the guy who pulled it off, if only to congratulate him."

            Trouble asked in surprise "You mean you wouldn't arrest him?"

            "Nope. We'd probably fine him or something small, but I mean, seriously. He's responsible for putting a corrupt company in jail and for donating millions to charities. Not bad for about two hour's work. Why do you ask?"

            Trouble and Sarah looked at each other, then shook their heads simultaneously. Trouble replied "No reason."

            "It's OK." They spun to look at Sebastian, who was standing with Holly in the doorway. He half-smiled at them. "Thanks for not telling though. That was nice of you."

            Root's growl came over the speakers "What am I missing?"

            Sebastian replied "I pulled the Macmillan Corp heist. But anyway. What did you want to ask me?"

            There was a silence as Root and Foaly tried to collect their thoughts and get their heads round their new discovery. 

            "Well, for one thing, how did you pull off that heist?" Foaly asked.

            Sebastian sighed. "Another time, Foaly, please."

            "Fine, fine. All right, I'm guessing you have experience with mechanical stuff, right?" Root snorted in the background.

            "He's probably been hotwiring vehicles since he could reach the wires."

            "No, actually." They all looked at Sebastian, who continued calmly, "Before. I had someone lift me up so I could reach them." By now, Trouble, Holly and Sarah had had enough experience with him to know he was being sarcastic. Unfortunately, Root and Foaly didn't. Sebastian sighed and told them he was joking and to hurry up.

            Foal cleared his throat and said "Did you check to see if there's still gas in the shuttle? The air vents? It should have been cycled out by now, but you never know."

            Sebastian went over to the control panel and started hitting buttons. A screen popped up. "Hmm, oxygen, good, . . . . good,  . . . . good. Nothing out of the ordinary."

            Foaly hummed to himself, then said "Check to see if there's tracking device on the shuttle. The grenade could easily have been programmed to launch something lese at the shuttle."

            Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Would you like fries with that?" The other three in the shuttle tried to hide their chuckles. Holly controlled herself and added "I'll help if you want."

            Sebastian nodded. "Thanks. By the way, why are we doing this, Foaly?"

They could just knew Foaly was shrugging. "Just something to do." 

Sebastian rolled his eyes again, turned and was about to walk out the door again, when he stopped, turned to Sarah and said "Could you do guard duty while I'm working? He might talk more ah, _freely_, to you. Or perhaps to the frying pan." They all grinned. Sarah headed out to the sprite, Trouble stood in the doorway to watch Holly and Sebastian while they tried to figure out a way to climb onto the roof of the shuttle.

            Foaly's voice came through the speakers "Trouble? Are you staying with us?"

            "Yup, I'll tell you what they see. Hey guys, tell me what you see and I'll tell Foaly!" This last comment was directed at Holly and Sebastian, who nodded and turned back to the task at hand. All right, how exactly do you climb on the roof of a ten foot high shuttle, especially when you're roughly three feet tall?

            Holly grumbled "This would be so much easier if the shuttle wasn't _round_."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Trouble was getting bored. He had nothing to do except listen to Root and Foaly argue and watch Sebastian and Holly argue. It _was_ quite amusing, especially with the _thwaaaang_ sounds in the background from Sarah's interrogation of their captive, but it was getting boring. 

            Holly and Sebastian voices were getting louder. Holly was protesting against something. 

            "Absolutely not!"

            "Why? There's no other way."

            "It's not our property!"

            "So?"

            "So you must have missed a few crucial lessons in what's right and what's wrong!"

            "Yes, but I'm still here! I'm still alive, so they can't have mattered all that much!"

            "Yes, but . . . oh, Sebastian, you just don't get it!"

            "Of course not, and I won't if you don't _tell_ me what I'm not getting!"

            "You _don't_ just destroy someone else's property, especially when you've taken it without asking them!"

            "That last bit wasn't my fault! Rowan and Ash did that! And I won't be _destroying_ it, I'll fix it after, I promise!"

            She looked at him for a minute, then said "I have your word?"

            "Yes. Though I'm not sure how much it'll mean to you, just a criminal's word."

            "You're not _just_ a criminal, you're Sebastian Dubhéadrom, and his word counts for something." Leaving Sebastian speechless, she turned to Trouble and yelled "All right, we know how." She walked over and whispered to him. A slow smile spread across his face, he shook his head and looked at Sebastian, who shrugged, a sheepish grin on his face. He nodded and went back into the shuttle to let Foaly and Root know they  were starting. 

            A few minutes later, after refusing to tell Root and Foaly how Sebastian and Holly were going about climbing the shuttle, he walked back to the doorway and looked out. Sebastian was sitting on the floor and was tying something pointy to his shoe with some of the extra cable. 

            Holly shook her head and muttered "I can't believe we're doing this. You sure you're got enough knives?" He nodded without looking up. 

            "I'll drop the extras down to you when I'm up there." He finished what he was going and stood up. He'd taken two of his knives and tied them to the soles of his shoes. The blades extended past his toes and stuck out a few inches. He reached an arm behind him and lifted his shirt up. Holly raised her eyebrows.

            "Sebastian, what are you doing?"

            "Getting more knives."

            "You have more?!?!" He nodded and reached for another dagger, sitting in a small scabbard hidden under his clothes, that rested halfway up his back. He pulled it out and handed it to Holly, who took it slightly nervously. He gave her a reassuring smile and said "Just think of it as a decorated and pointy table knife." She had to smile, then examined the knife she was holding. 

            It was indeed decorated, with carvings on the blade and handle. There were also markings in a language she didn't know or understand. She looked back at Sebastian, who was pulling yet another knife out of yet another scabbard, this one on his side. 

            "How many knives do you usually carry?"

            He grinned. "Depends on what I'm wearing and how many I can hide. OK, that's all I need."

            She eyed him. "You mean there's more?" He just smiled and held out his hand. Holly handed him the knife with a sigh and said "I can't believe we're doing this." He grinned and said "You'll get used to it."

            She looked at him sharply and said "What do you mean by that?"

            "Well, you're stuck with me until we find this Pendant, and I seem to remember Root saying it had to be found, by any means necessary."

            "Oh, no, after this we're not doing anything else the criminal way." 

Trouble called from the doorway "I don't think it's the criminal way, I think it's the Sebastian way." Sebastian walked over to the side of the shuttle he and Holly had decided on. Where the walls were the weakest. The daggers on his feet clanked on the floor as he walked. He stopped and looked up. More than three times his height, it was a little daunting. 

Holly walked up to stand behind him. "Go on." She grinned. "I'll catch you." He had to smile. He stepped in front of it and thoughtfully rested one of the daggers he was holding against the metal. He heard Holly groan. 

"Just get it over with." He complied and rammed the dagger into the metal. Like they'd thought, here the metal was the weakest, so it sank right in. He rammed the one in his left hand into the metal, a little higher up this time. He lifted up his foot and put that one in the shuttle wall too. He lifted his last limb and slammed it into the wall, too.

Now he was off the ground, clinging to the shuttle. He pulled one of his feet out of the shuttle and rammed it in higher. Holly sighed behind him. "Congratulations, you're a whole three inches off the floor. Only ten feet left to go. Hurry it up!"

He grinned, though Holly couldn't see him, because his face was to the shuttle wall and picked up the pace, making his way to the top of the shuttle, leaving lots of cuts in the metal, and a slightly horrified (that she was a part of this) Holly behind him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sebastian pulled himself the last few inches and swing his leg up, forgetting he had a knife attached to it and almost lopping off his arm. He hissed something unrepeatable which made Holly look up and call "All right?"

            "Oh . . . just . . . fine. Wait . . . a . . . second." he replied through gritted teeth. He pulled himself onto the flat top of the shuttle and sat down, muttering to himself. He looked down at where he'd come from. Holly was standing ten feet below him, looking up at him. Between the two of them, on the walls of the shuttle, were many cuts in the metal. Sebastian winced at the thought of the repairs he'd have to do after this. 

            He set the two knives he had in his hands carefully down on the roof, making sure they wouldn't fall off and kill someone. He looked down at Holly and yelled "I'm at the top! Ready for the knives?" 

She nodded and replied "I'll move away, drop them down pointy side down so they'll stick in the floor and won't skid." He nodded and carefully dropped down the two knives, one after the other. Then he untied the second pair from his feet and dropped them, and the cables he'd used to tie them to his feet, down to Holly as well.

After a few minutes, Holly stood up and called out "All right, I'm coming up now." He backed away to give her space. Then he remembered something and called down "Can you try and make the cuts close to mine? It'll be easier for the repairs." She grinned and nodded. 

A few minutes later, though, she wasn't in such a good mood. She was going as slow as Sebastian had and her muscles were aching from ramming the knives into the metal. Worse, the sides of the shuttle were round, so at the moment she was going up a wall that was sloping towards her. She stopped for a breather and yelled up to Sebastian "Why am I doing this? Can't you manage by yourself?"         

"I doubt it. Who knows what they've stuck on the shuttle?" came the reply. She growled something impolite, which made Sebastian chuckle and call "C'mon, you're halfway there. Not too much further." She groaned and continued climbing.

Finally, her head emerged over the crest of the shuttle. She pulled herself up and pulled out two knives to swing herself over. Unfortunately, that was the exact moment that something nearby exploded very loudly, startling her. She felt herself topple backwards and heard Sarah shriek and Trouble yell. She tried to stick another knife in, but she was too far away. She tried again but couldn't reach.

Just when she'd given herself up for impending painful injury, something grabbed her by the shoulders and swung her up onto the roof. She landed on her back, had her breath knocked out of her and her head whacked and, still moving, slid into something softer than the surrounding metal. Whatever it was moved when she hit it and went sliding towards the edge of the roof. Ignoring the pounding in her ears, through the fuzziness of her vision (thanks to that whack on the head she sustained when she landed), she made out Sebastian as the thing she'd hit. At the moment, though, he was half-on, half-off the roof, leaning towards being off the roof. 

She dropped the knives in her hands and made to grab him, when something else exploded, much closer this time. Something hit her on the side of the head, but she ignored it, reached out and grabbed Sebastian's arm and pulled him onto the roof. Which, as it turned out, was a big mistake. She would actually have done better to have thrown him off the shuttle.

**Review, people! Tell me what you think. Major discovery coming up next chapter, involving Sebastian and Trouble. I'll have it up tomorrow or the day after. Oh, yes one more thing. Please, please, PLEASE help me come u with a better title. **

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Mad Sam: You like the title? I don't really, but anyways. I don't think there'll be romance in it. Though I'm thinking about doing a sequel and that might have romance in it. Big might. You put me on your favourites? * sniff * Thanks :)**

**Mage Kitty: ACK, I'm so stupid to forgot that fairies are three feet tall! * author proceeds to smack self repeatedly on the head with her frying pan * Don't ask how I own a frying pan, LONG story, I'll tell you if you actually care. That's how I know what noise a frying pan makes when it hits someone's head :) ACK, MORE typos. I think I posted my rough draft instead of my final one. Stupid me.**

**Mad Sam: (Did I already do you? Can't remember. Anyway) The sprite is just some random underling. It said "No prizes for guessing why he was unconscious". As in, Sarah hit him with the frying pan. Yup, Sebastian was v. grumpy in that chapter. And this one, I think.**

**Mage Kitty: (I think I did you before too) Thank you, thank you. I try. **

**Aly: New favourite saying? I use it all the time. "I resent that", I mean. Not the frying pan bit. As for the frying pan, I own one, (long story, I'll tell you if you actually care) and because I am such a dedicated author, I did, uh, _extensive research_. Involving wandering around my house, whacking myself with it and asking people "Does it sound more like a _thwuuuung_ or a _thwaaaang_?" But it was OK, they already know I'm insane.**

**Liaranne: Do you like the title? I don't really like it, I chose it kinda fast. If you have any ideas, please let me know. As for the cooking with the frying pan, wait 'till next chapter. Or the one after. I can't remember. **

**Tide: Oh, a new reviewer. Hello, I am Fallen Into The Abyss. Or I _have_ Fallen Into The Abyss. Anyway, thanks for the nice review. Trouble's chapter's are coming up soon. Big new development involving him. Just you wait . . .**

**Midnight Moonbeam: Another new reviewer! Yup, I liked the chapter title too. Very dangerous things, frying pans . . .**


	11. Splosions!

            **A/N I'm back! Miss me? I apologize for the delay, but ff.net was experiencing some techie problems I'd never understand in a hundred years (too complicated for us mere mortals) and plus, my beta reader came back and I waited for her to get through quite a bit of my writing. Also, though I don't like to admit it, because of said techie problem, I didn't couldn't read my reviews, so I sulked for a bit. **

**Anyways, if I don't answer your review, sorry, I'm sure I'll get it sometime. By the way, it is half, yes HALF, the size of the ones I normally give you. I am testing to see if yous don't mind getting shorter chapters more often. I am testing this since no one has bloody answered my questions about chapter lengths. OK, I'll shut up now.**

CHAPTER TEN 

            Trouble had been standing in the doorway, listening with a smile to Holly and Sebastian's banter, when something right above him exploded. Instinct took over. He flung himself out the door, ignoring Root and Foaly's shouted demands to know what was happening. 

            He heard Sarah shriek and turned to look at the top of the shuttle. There was smoke there and he couldn't see Sebastian. Holly had still been climbing when whatever it was had exploded, right at the crest of the shuttle. Now, she was falling backwards, trying vainly to stab a knife into the metal for a handhold. He yelled at her, but Sebastian appeared out of the smoke and grabbed Holly's shoulders. He swung her up onto the roof of the shuttle. She slid in a half circle and slammed into Sebastian, almost knocking him off the roof. 

Unfortunately, the roof, as said before, was prone to make people slide. Sebastian slid and was almost all the way off the roof when something else exploded on the roof of the shuttle. Trouble yelled again and ducked as pieces of metal rained down. He watched helplessly as Holly grabbed Sebastian and pulled him back onto the shuttle. Something else exploded and a whole chunk of the roof was blown into the air.

It narrowly missed Trouble and Sarah, who'd run up behind him. She yelled in his ear, the only way to be heard over the noise "We've got to get out of here! We need to get to the surface! Grab some supplies, get the food!"

He yelled back "But Sebastian and Holly-"

She interrupted him "They'll be fine for now! Just get some stuff into the lift before the whole port goes!" Her logic calmed him down a little and he braced himself, then ran into the shuttle. He yelled to Root and Foaly that the shuttle was exploding and they had to get to the surface. He grabbed the bag with the food and the medical box in it and ran outside again, to drag Ash and Rowan into the lift.

The explosions were constant now. The first ones, from the shuttle, had set off ones that seemed to be coming from down the exit tunnel, or even the chute itself. Holly sat up and looked around. The roof was exploding and metal was flying everywhere. She and Sebastian had to get off the roof. She looked around for Sebastian.

He was crawling towards her. He grabbed her and dragged her over to the edge of the roof, away from the explosions. They looked down to the floor, ten feet away (pretty daunting when you're three foot tall) , then back towards the exploding mess that had until recently been a roof. It was a difficult decision, but breaking a few bones sounded less painful than getting blown to pieces.

            They didn't get to make the choice, however. There was one huge explosion and they found themselves flying through the air so fast it seemed likely they'd hit a wall before they hit the floor.

            Sarah was over by the sprite. She pulled her sword from her bag, opened it and swiped through the cables tying him to the table. He immediately took to the air and fled to the lift. In one minute, he was flying out into the open air. Sarah yelled something unrepeatable after him, then started throwing stuff they'd need into the other lift. 

In went the bag with food and medical kit, in went Holly's bag, in went Trouble's bag, in went Sebastian's bag (that was probably going to be useful for defending themselves; he was better equipped than an arsenal). All this was now heaped around Ash and Rowan, who were astoundingly still unconscious. 

            She heard an explosion much louder than the others and spun around. Sebastian and Holly had been thrown into the air so hard they were travelling roughly horizontally. Her mouth fell open. They'd break their necks if they hit anything. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Holly had passed out when the force of the explosion hit her. She'd taken too many whacks already. Sebastian wasn't out yet, but was in that special part of consciousness that only regular drunks are familiar with. Everything had slowed to a crawl. Things were exploding. The wall was approaching. Suddenly, everything stopped. Actually, to be precise, he stopped.

            Trouble ran over to Sarah, but slowed down when he saw that her eyes were closed and she was concentrating extremely hard on something. He turned back to the shuttle and his jaw dropped. 

Sebastian and Holly were floating in the air, surrounded and supported by a fog of blue sparks, He looked back at Sarah and said, as quietly as he could and still be heard "Sarah, you've got them. Put them down." He thought she hadn't heard him until she nodded and the cloud moved slowly towards them. Too slowly.

Rocks were flying out of the entrance tunnel. Metal from the remains of the shuttle was exploding in every direction. He pleaded in his mind for Sarah to hurry up. As if she heard him, the cloud sped up and she murmured "Get into the lift."

He did as she told him and she turned and ran in with him. She'd either got the last bit wrong, or gotten too scared to wait, because the fog shot forwards and slammed Holly and Sebastian into the lift. Sarah yelled at Trouble to hit the button. 

He did and the doors closed. They moved upwards painfully slowly. Quiet descended, except for Ash, Rowan, Sebastian and Holly's slow breathing. Trouble looked at Sarah and asked quietly "How long to the surface?" 

She shrugged. "A few minutes. At the most. This lift is old and slow. But I think we'll make it." He nodded. The sound of the explosions grew fainter as they went up. Finally, the lift dinged and the doors opened. They were standing inside a hologram of a tiny hill, only about six feet tall. Sarah and Trouble could see perfectly well out of it (though everything had a greenish tint to it) and they looked at each other. They didn't really want to leave this place. It felt safer than out there. 

            Trouble sighed and said "We'd better find shelter or somewhere to stay while the other four recover. They're still unconscious."

            "I don't blame them." muttered Sarah. The ground shook under their feet and the muffled sound of the mother of all explosions drifted out of the lift shaft. They exchanged glances and decided to move. 

            "See any place to go?" Sarah inquired, looking around herself. They were in a hilly grassland plateau, thousands of meters above sea level, totally surrounded by mountains. The only way anyone would be able to get here now that the chute was unusable was by flying over the mountains. No humans around here, then, Sarah thought. Trouble's voice broke into her thoughts.

            "There." She followed his gaze and saw a shelf cut into the cliff face behind them. At the back of it, where the horizontal rock met the vertical rock, was a cave. She nodded.

            "That's good. But how do we get up there?" Trouble grinned sheepishly. She gave him a suspicious look.

            "What did you do?"

            "I grabbed a box from the shuttle. It was really heavy, so I peeked inside and I decided to bring it." He pulled a wooden crate towards him and triumphantly lifted the lid. Six brand new sets of wings gleamed at them. 

Sarah looked at him and said "You stole us some wings? That was nice of you."

He coloured a little and said "I didn't _steal_ them."

Sarah said without looking up "Uh-huh. That's about as likely as me winning Most Normal Person in the school yearbook."

He grinned and said "Come on. You know how to work these?" She shook her head. After a ten minute crash course in flying that involved much laughing on Sarah's part and much swearing on Trouble's part, Trouble decided Sarah was good enough to fly. He grabbed Sebastian by under his shoulders and shielded. Sarah looked at him.

"Now all I can see is an unconscious fairy hanging limply from nothing." 

Trouble's voice replied "It's better than nothing." Sarah grabbed Holly and shielded herself. They took to the air and headed for the cave. They reached it after about five minutes and set their two unconscious passengers down gently. Then they turned around and headed back for Ash and Rowan. 

Sebastian sat up, groaned and put a hand to his head. He looked around. Holly was lying beside him and they were on a rock shelf overlooking a large, fertile plateau, surrounded by high mountains. A cave was behind them. 

Trouble, Sarah, Ash and Rowan were nowhere to be seen. He shrugged. They'd be back before long. He was about to lie down again when he heard a piercing, keening noise right behind him.

He spun around and winced as his muscles protested. After he recovered himself, he looked up. Sitting on a rock and looking at him with its head cocked to one side was a beautiful bird with a black head, grey back and a white front.

He murmured quietly to it in Gaelic "You're a falcon, aren't you?" The falcon keened again. Holly moaned in her sleep and shifted. Sebastian told the bird quietly "You might want to keep it down a bit. She's got quite a temper and she just took a beating."

The falcon gave another cry, quieter this time. Sebastian nodded and said "That's better." He stretched out his hand to it. The falcon froze, staring at his hand. Sebastian murmured soothingly "It's all right, I won't hurt you." 

The falcon looked at him for a while longer, then hopped onto his hand. He seemed to examine what he was standing on, then nipped Sebastian's finger gently. Sebastian looked at the finger in question and saw that it was covered in blood. Whose, he wasn't quite sure.

He shook his head to clear it of that slightly morbid thought and murmured to the falcon "Ah, you're a carnivore. Afraid I disagree with you there. Strictly vegetarian diet for me." The falcon looked at him, then continued examining his hand.

A voice beside him said quietly "That's Gaelic you're talking to him in, isn't it." A little startled, Sebastian looked at Holly, who was gazing blearily at the bird perched on his hand. He nodded and Holly murmured "It's a beautiful bird."

He held his hand out to her. "Want to hold him?"

She shook her head. "I don't think he'd like it."

"I dunno, he's definitely seen human before, if not fairies. I think he's used to it" 

Holly didn't need to bother making her mind up, as the falcon jumped across from Sebastian outstretched hand to Holly's shoulder, where it regarded her as if daring her to protest. She smiled and gently stroked its head. It shifted a little, but then got used to it.

The falcon suddenly jerked his head up and stared out across the plateau. Holly and Sebastian followed its gaze. Two large blurs were approaching. One of the blurs was zigzagging crazily.

Holly chuckled. "No prizes for guessing which one's Sarah." Sebastian smiled but the falcon made an odd hissing noise that sounded more snakelike than bird, and fluffed his feathers angrily. Holly smiled and turned her attention back to the approaching blurs. 

They could dimly hear Trouble's voice complaining. "Of course, it was only _after_ we moved Holly and Sebastian that you remembered you'd found some of that new camouflage foil."

"I forgot."

"Oh, wonderful. I hope you didn't forget the frying pans." Trouble's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Not to worry! I brought three, they're in my bag. I didn't have time to get more."

Sebastian murmured to Holly "That's the perfect amount. One for her right hand, one for her left and one to cook with."

Holly smiled and Trouble's amazed voice drifted towards them. "You couldn't take sarcasm if it was encased in lead and dropped on your head from 20 feet up."

"Sarcasm? What's that?" Sarah asked cheerfully.

"Never mind."

"OK. Hey, look. Holly and Sebastian are awake And there's a bird sitting on Holly's shoulder."

The blurs landed on the shelf and Sarah and Trouble unshielded in front of them. They carefully placed two more blurs on the ground and unwrapped them, revealing Ash and Rowan, who were, impossibly, still out. Holly looked at them and said worriedly "They should be awake by now."

Trouble said reassuringly "It was probably just strong sleeping gas. And since they aren't part of the prophecy, they didn't wake up." He paused, then asked curiously "What's with the bird?" The falcon called out angrily. Sebastian hid a smile that only Trouble saw and said "It's a falcon. A peregrine falcon."

Trouble muttered an apology under his breath, though he had no idea why. The falcon flew across to him and settled itself on his shoulder. Sarah stroked him. "Pretty birdie." The falcon turned its head and gave another call. Sebastian again hid a smile. No one noticed except Trouble, who gave him an odd look again.

Trouble said to Sarah "We'd better go back for the rest of the stuff." He looked at the bird and was going to pick him up and hand him back to Holly, but for some reason he couldn't quite explain, he simply said to the falcon "I've gotta go. Could you go back to Holly? I'll be back after." To everyone's amazement, the falcon flew across to Holly's shoulder. 

Well, strictly speaking, not _everyone's_ amazement. Trouble had had an odd feeling that the falcon would do as he politely asked him and Sebastian was smiling at the look on everyone's faces. And Ash and Rowan were still more dead than alive. Trouble and Sarah flew back to the holographic hill for the rest of the stuff. All the way there and back, Trouble's mind was buzzing. What exactly was happening and what did Sebastian know abut it?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

                        ****

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Tide: Little known fact about ff.net: When it experiences techie problems, it sends Fallen Into The Abyss about seven copies of your review. But that's OK, it was a nice review. Hi, Ciza. Interesting name, my spell check keeps telling me it doesn't exist. Oh, well, it does that with my real name, so anyways. Splosions? Well, it's supposed to be 'splosions, but the apostrophe thingy dun't work, so anyways. It's just another way of saying explosions, see? My little brother used to say it all the time when he was younger, Actually, he still does. . . Trouble with a frying pan? Hmm, interesting . . . If I put it in, I'll dedicate it to you for asking. :) Fallen into the abyss is an expression where I come from (Ireland). As in: cynical, disillusioned, pessimistic, fallen into the abyss of insanity, blah blah. Stuff like that. **

**Liaranne: Same little known fact about ff.net as stated in above review: When it experiences techie problems, it also sends Fallen Into the Abyss seven copies of your review. But anyways. Thanks for the review. Cliff hangers are evil to read, but hilarious fun to write, because them you get to watch your readers rage at you. Hehehe, I'm evil. As for the frying pan, I am modelling it on my own frying pan, which I received as a joke Valentine's Day gift from my dear (and insane) mother, who told me in an amused voice it was non-stick with Teflon coating. Not bad, huh? Yup, I had to do dreaded Maths for a bit to work out a suitable height for the shuttle. Writer's block does suck. But it's gone now, so expect more chapters.**

**Midnight Moonbeam: Yup, Sebastian doe shave the detonator, but you found out why it exploded anyway in this chapter. **

**Mage Kitty: ACK, sodding typos! I read and I read until 'm sick of my own bloody story and they STILL slip through my fingers! Grrrr. I do laugh at typos, but only other people's. :)**

**REVIEW!!!**


	12. Discoveries

**A/N As you all probably know, ff.net is experiencing lots of difficulties, which made me accidentally post a chapter twice. I have now removed it, but thanks to those who pointed it out. The Review Alert thing is still a bit messed up, so if I miss your review at the end, I apologize.**

**            I have discovered the joys of the song "J'ai Demandé À La Lune", by Indochine.  Excellent song. If my writing seems to have a different tone each chapter, it's because of the song I was listening to at the time. Anyways, here's the chapter.**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

When the bags and equipment had been safely stowed away in the cave, the four teenagers and the falcon sat down near the two unconscious adults. Holly looked around. The plateau was rapidly darkening. Dismayed, she realized they'd have to spend a night here. Most probably several. She turned to the other three. The falcon was sitting on Sarah's shoulder and she was stroking it, Sebastian was checking his knives and Trouble was brooding, staring off into the darkness.

            Holly said to them "We need to make a fire." Sarah nodded emphatically, Sebastian shook his head just as emphatically and Trouble was paying no attention whatsoever.

            Sarah glared at Sebastian "It's going to be freezing tonight."

            He replied "A fire in the dark will be seen miles away."

            "So if they come, you can stab them or shoot them. Or use some of the other tricks I'm sure you've got." He looked steadily at her until she dropped her gaze and muttered she was sorry. He shrugged and said it was fine. Then he looked at the others and asked "So what are we going to do?"

            Sarah was back to stroking the falcon and Trouble was still paying no attention. Holly jerked her head in his direction and looked questioningly at Sebastian, who shrugged. Holly said to Sebastian, since no one else was listening, "We _will_ need a fire. Take it in turns to watch, then?" 

He replied "I'll take most of it. Insomnia comes in useful sometimes."

"Sleep first and then you can go through the night. All right?" He nodded. Then Holly realized something. 

"How are we going to make a fire?" she wondered. Sebastian shrugged, but Sarah looked up and said brightly "I can use my magic! I know the spell for making fire. I'll try it out."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            They put most of the fire out eventually, but as Trouble said they didn't need the empty crate the wings came in anyway and now they had a perfectly good fire and lots of extra firewood. They sat around the fire warming themselves, while Sarah searched through the bags, insisting she'd seen marshmallows _somewhere_ around here. 

            Holly looked around, at Sarah using the toasting fork she'd produced from Frond knows where to roast broccoli over the fire. ("What? I _like_ broccoli. And anyway, we need to roast _something_. It's isn't right to have a fire and not roast anything" The others hadn't wanted to comment), at Trouble, staring off into the distance while absent-mindedly stroking Casper, at the two unconscious adults and at Sebastian, healing the various cuts he'd sustained from the explosion. 

She remembered something she'd been wondering about and said "Why did the shuttle explode? I thought Sebastian said he'd disabled the explosives."

They all looked round at Sebastian, who replied "I did. The trigger for the _sprite's_ explosions were disabled. But when I got on the roof of the shuttle, I saw lots of little grooves in the roof. Looked like we'd been hit by a shower of tiny rocks. Lots of little rock-ish looking stuff embedded in it. But Foaly must have been right. That grenade in the entrance tunnel must have shot all these miniscule explosives at us."

Trouble, nodded. "Your movement on top of the shuttle, near them, must have set them off. The timing of the explosion was too convenient to have been set on a timer." The rest of them nodded, and lapsed back into silence.

            After a while, when it was properly dark, Sebastian announced he was going to sleep and they should wake him up when they got tired. He pulled something long and black out of his bag.

            Holly asked him curiously "What's that?"

            He held it up for her to see better and replied "My trench coat. I don't have a normal jacket. Very useful things, trench coats. Can double as blankets, pillows, table cloths, tourniquets." The other three were laughing by now. He wrapped himself up in it and lay down. 

            Sarah reached for one of her frying pans, but decided against it when the falcon pecked her on the ear. She rubbed it and glared at the bird. She said to it "I guess we're stuck with you, aren't we? We'll have to name you, then. I don't think Polly suits you. Besides, you don't look much like a parrot and you don't talk. So what'll we name you?"

            "Casper." They all looked at Sebastian, who was facing away from them. "His name is Casper." He said again.

Sarah nodded happily. "Casper. Suits you, that does. Nice name too." Casper gave that piercing cry again and flew over to Trouble's shoulder, where he settled himself against Trouble's neck and promptly went to sleep.

Trouble stroked him gently and told Holly and Sarah "I'll watch until Sebastian's turn." They nodded and lay down, wrapped up in the blankets Trouble had found in the shuttle. Silence descended on their makeshift camp. The only sounds were slow breathing and the crackling of the fire. 

But that buzzing noise in Trouble's head wouldn't go away. It was like a bee was caught inside his skull. He shook his head angrily, almost dislodging Casper, who cried out angrily and pecked Trouble's ear. Trouble winced, rubbed his ear and mumbled an apology. Then he glared at nothing. Why did he keep apologizing to the bloody bird?!

He growled to himself, then sat back for a long wait. The buzzing in his head grew louder and his temper grew worse. And, though he didn't notice it, his eyes grew heavier. Finally, he gave in and got up. He walked over to where Sebastian lay and shook him. Sebastian jumped up, knife in hand, but hastily put it away when he saw Trouble's face. "Sorry." he mumbled.

"S'OK. Casper, I'm going to sleep now. Go sleep on Sebastian, please." The bird obligingly flew over to Sebastian's shoulder and the two of them walked a little way away from Trouble.

Trouble lay down and his breathing gradually slowed and evened. Sebastian murmured to Casper "You can got hunt now." The falcon flew off into the night Sebastian watched him for a few seconds, then looked at Trouble and sighed. Why do the nice ones always get the hard lives?, he wondered to himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Casper returned to the shelf fifteen minutes later with a dead mouse in his talons. Sebastian said quietly "You'd better get rid of it when you're done. Most fairies don't like to see raw meat." 

            Casper looked up and talked away in his own language, which makes no sense to most fairies. Most. Sebastian didn't hear the keening noises and the cheeps, but heard "And you don't mind it? Don't be so confident. A street-wise intelligence won't do it all for you this time."

            "I've got the others."

            "Why do I get the feeling that what you just said is a major landmark for you?"

            "Because I usually don't trust people that easily."

            "If you trust these people, why haven't you told them about yourself?"

            "They never asked. If they do, I'll tell them."

            There were three odd things about this conversation. One, Sebastian, an elf, was having a conversation with a bird. Two, he understood said bird. Three, he wasn't talking to said bird in Gnommish, English, or any Mud Man or fairy language. He was making the sounds and noises that Casper used. Pardon the expression, but he was talking Bird. 

            Casper pulled a bit of meat off the dead mouse, ate it and replied "That's quite possibly the worst excuse I've ever heard. And when are you going to explain things to the other boy?"

            Sebastian shrugged. "He won't believe me. I've only known him for a few days and that's a big thing he's got to accept."

            Caper ripped some more meat off the carcass in front of him, ate it, then said "Excuses, excuses. Take the responsibility. Someone has to. And he won't listen to me."

            Sebastian muttered "I wonder why." That was when Trouble sat up, shaking and said "All right, I've listened to enough. How can you talk to him? How can you understand him?"

            Casper swallowed another bloody piece of meat and said to Sebastian "No time like the present. Go for it. If he gets violent, I'll gouge his eyes out."

            Sebastian glared at him and hissed something. Well, to Trouble it sounded like hissing, but Casper heard "Thanks for the support."

            Sebastian sighed and beckoned for Trouble to come over to them. He did so. Sebastian said simply "I'm a shape shifter. You know what they are, I'm sure. They can change their shape to that of any animal's. And they can understand and talk to animals in their own shape or any other. I can understand Casper and talk to him. You're able to do it too. Well, you will be able to soon."

            "What? How?"

            "You're a shape shifter too. This is just a guess, but I think you didn't know it before now. Shape shifters can recognize each other. I knew you were one as soon as I met you, but I didn't know if you knew. I guess you didn't."

            Trouble stared at Sebastian, then at Casper, who tilted his head at him. "I'm a shape shifter?"

            "Yup."

            "D'Arvit." he breathed.

            ***makes face* I don't like this chapter. I like Casper though and the whole shape shifting bit. I just don't like my writing. Guess I had last day of holiday blues. **

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Aly: Didn't hurt that much. I wasn't braining myself like Sarah was doing to the others, just a few whacks every now and then, then leave myself time to recover. :) What do you mean by "all have is the seven"? **

**Mad Sam: OK, I guess short chapters it is. Don't worry, they're come every few days. I won't wait so long in the future.**

**Mad Sam: I posted it twice because when I hit the "post chapter" button, ff.net just told me to come back in a few hours, it didn't tell me it had actually posted the chapter.**

**Fallen Into The Abyss: Wait . . . damn it, never mind. **

**What_life_is(n't): Thank you for the long, supportive review. But a lot of it sounded familiar. Like someone had told me all that stuff before . . . Hmm . . . I wonder. Hah! I know!**

**ATTENTION ALL, THE ABOVE REVIEWER IS MY AMAZING BETA READER IN DISGUISE! DO NOT ASK ME WHY SHE IS REVIEWING MY STORY, I DID NOT CARE TO ASK, BETA READERS ARE AN ODD SPECIES.**

**Liaranne: I'll work in a red-tailed hawk. Shall I name it after you? Just a passing reference. :) I love Sarah (not in that way, mind you), she's probably my favourite character. Pleas e let me know to anti-Mary Sue things, I may have need of them in future chapters! **

**Aly: (Think I did you already, but oh well) You find out how Sebastian can talk to birdies in this chappie. Though perhaps birds do speak Gaelic . . . I've never actually spoken to one in Gaelic, I usually only speak Gaelic now to myself and to others (to others, I can use swear words and they don't have a clue) **

**Oh yes, big shout out to all my reviewers for being so patient with me with all these techie whatsits, mess-ups. Thanks to my beta readers, too. **

**REVIEW!!!**


	13. Split Apart

A/N OK, short chappies it is. CHAPTER TWELVE 

            _Trouble stared at Sebastian, then at Casper, who tilted his head at him. "I'm a shape shifter?"_

_            "Yup."_

_            "D'Arvit." he breathed. _

            "My thoughts exactly when I first found out about me being a shape shifter." commented Sebastian.

            "So . . . I can change into animals and understand them?"

            "Yup. That's why Casper likes you so much. Well, compared to other things. And also why he's hanging around us. Two shape shifters above ground? Something must be up, so he's sticking around."

            "But I can't understand him. I can't be a shape shifter."

            Casper made a great racket, flapping around and screeching at this. Sebastian smiled. "Casper doesn't agree. I've never met another shape shifter, so I don't know if it happens the same to everyone, but with me I heard a buzzing whenever I was around animals. Do you?"

            Trouble nodded and said "Yeah, I do. Is that what it's supposed to sound like?" Casper gabbled away in his own language. Sebastian translated when he was done.

            "He says you need to concentrate. It'll be scary at first. All those voices. Anyway, concentrate."

            Trouble did, as if he was straining to hear someone speaking in another room. The buzzing grew louder, then something clicked in his brain. The buzzing exploded into a cacophony of voices all around him.

            He clapped his over his ears. Sebastian's voice echoed in his head. "Tune it all out, like you would a boring teacher in school. Concentrate only on the voice you want to hear, one at a time. After a day or two, you'll be used to it and be able to stand it." Trouble nodded and took his hands off his ears.

            He filtered out all the quietest, farthest away voices. He looked at Casper, who flapped his wings irritably and asked "Can you hear me now?" Trouble's jaw dropped. Casper muttered to himself "I take it that's a yes."

            Trouble tentatively replied "Yes, I can hear you." But it came out, not in words, but in several keening noises. He looked up as a pair of birds flew overheard. They were discussing "that odd earthquake that scared away all the mice".

            Sebastian chuckled and said "If you could see the look on your face." Trouble grinned and asked Casper curiously "How did you learn to understand Gnommish? I know you understand us when we talk to each other."

            "I've spent time around fairies." was all Casper would say. Trouble and Sebastian exchanged glances, then shrugged. Sebastian grinned suddenly and said "Shift into a hawk or a falcon. Flying's amazing, you'll love it."

            Trouble pictured the shape of a falcon, just like Casper, in his mind. Then the oddest feeling came over him. It was if his body was made of water and he was flowing, changing shape in the beat of a heart.

            His vision changed. Everything was sharper, clearer, he could see for miles. The sensitivity of his sense of smell rocketed, leaving him feeling dizzy. The cold air no longer bothered him. He looked down and saw that he was now covered in feathers. He looked up again and saw Casper sitting straight across from him and Sebastian towering above him.

            He took a deep breath and flapped his wings. Casper made a derisive noise in the back of his throat and said "I'll show you how it's done. Catch the wind. Flapping takes too much energy, only do it when there's no wind, or almost none." Casper walked over to the edge of the shelf and threw himself off. He angled his body so that he caught the wind and soared upwards. He called back to Trouble "Your turn."

            Trouble wondered if he should take the cautious approach or the suicidal one. Oh, what the hell, he thought, and threw himself off the shelf. For a petrifying few seconds, he fell, but then remembered to angle his body and the wind caught him and flew with him upwards. He let the wind carry him for a bit, then changed directions and circled high above the shelf, amazed at how far he could now see.

            Then he remembered something and flew higher still, until he could feel the cold seeping through his warm feathers. He strained his vision to try and see what lay past the mountains. A voice in his head said "Eagles can see farther." Trouble almost fell out of the sky in shock. 

            He thought angrily "Don't _do_ that, Sebastian!" He paused, then thought "Is it safe to shift in mid air?"

            "Mid air, under water, in quicksand, wherever. It only takes a split second, so you won't fall. Just make sure whatever you change into can fly."

            "Thanks for the advice, I'd never have remembered _that_." 

            "What else am I here for?" Sebastian left his mind and Trouble concentrated on the form of an eagle. That odd flowing feeling came over him and he dropped a few feet in surprise. He caught himself and peered past the mountains. He let out what is probably the eagle equivalent of a groan, a kind of half growl, half shriek.

            He tucked his wings close to himself like he'd seen Casper do and dived to the ground. He pulled up right before he hit the ground and followed it along to the shelf. As a bird flies, it was actually a rather small plateau. 

            He alighted on the shelf, where Casper and Sebastian were sitting. Now he was almost as big as Sebastian and towered over Casper, who clucked and said "Think you're so good, just because you're bigger. All shape shifters are the same."

            Sebastian grinned and said "Don't mind him, he's just jealous. Have fun?" Trouble shifted back into his own shape and tried to walk over to sit beside Sebastian. It felt so weird to be back to moving his legs that his knees buckled and he collapsed. Sebastian grinned down at him "You'll get used to it."

            Trouble sat up, grinning. The feeling of flight was amazing, nothing else like it. He felt sorry for the poor people who could only do it with a machine on their back. He'd never really thought about it before, but he realized why sprites had wings. It sort of balanced them out. They were so stupid they needed _something_ going for them. 

            He remembered something and looked up at Sebastian "Why didn't you tell us you're a shape shifter?"

            Sebastian shrugged. "Didn't think it was that important. Besides, I knew you'd find out sooner or later, especially since you're one too. Are you going to tell the others?"

            Trouble thought about it, then nodded. "In a few days. After I get used to it myself." 

            Casper glared at Sebastian "See? At least _someone_ is being honest." Sebastian rolled his eyes. Trouble grinned and went back over to his blanket and lay down. Though he hadn't realized it, he was exhausted from the flight. He was asleep before he had time to think. Sebastian settled back against a rock for the night. Casper made a despairing noise at the lack of meat on the mouse's carcass and flew off to hunt again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            The next morning, Holly, Trouble and Sarah were woken by the sound of a yell, a shriek, a shot and a thud. They jumped up to find a horrified Ash bending over Sebastian and swearing. Ash looked up and said "It was an accident! I didn't know where I was! Actually, I still don't. The last thing I remember is helping Rowan fly the shuttle. Then I woke up here and I saw someone with a bird on their shoulder bending over me asking how I was feeling. It was a reflex, I'm sorry!"

            They all groaned. The yell must have been Ash, the shriek Casper, the shot Ash's Neutrino and the thud Sebastian. Holly bent over Sebastian and shook him. Nothing. She took his pulse and found that it was even, but slow. 

            Trouble asked Ash "What setting did you shoot him on?" Ash looked at his gun and groaned. 

            "Which one?" asked Sarah curiously. 

            "Two."

            "How long do people shot on two usually stay out for?" Trouble asked, dreading the answer.

            Ash bit his lip. "Anywhere from 24 hours to 48 hours." They all groaned as they realized they'd be stuck here for another day at least,  probably more. Ash sighed, then asked "So what happened when I was out?"

            Twenty minutes later, Ash was sitting around the fire with them, shaking his head. "This is bad."

            "Overall? We know that. Specifically? Which part are you talking about?" Sarah asked. 

            "The shuttle port being destroyed and us having no communications." Ash replied.

            "Why? We were supposed to come up here and stay for a while, weren't we? And we have wings to get to another chute to get us home." 

Ash brightened, then replied "Wings are good. No, I'm not worried about getting home. We need to get Rowan home."

"Why? What's wrong with him?" asked Holly fearfully.

"We're not exactly sure, but it started with an accident in our first year of the Academy, when they accidentally released an entire can of sleeping gas into the training hall. Rowan got an overdose of it, since he was right beside the air vent. Ever since, he's overreacted to any kind of sleeping gas. I dunno if you'd remember it, no, you weren't born yet. 

"Anyway, once he got a dose of it when he was helping ambush some goblins. They'd booby-trapped the building they were in. Rowan was a dose of sleeping gas that should have knocked him out for a few hours, like the rest of us. He was out for a whole D'Arvitting _week_."

There was silence until Trouble said "It knocked you out for a day. Pretty strong knock-out gas then."

Ash nodded and said "We need to get him below ground to a doctor immediately." They all nodded, until Sarah said "All of us? I mean, it doesn't take five people to take one below ground." 

Ash replied, confused "Well we can't just _leave_ some of you here." 

"You might have to." 

"Why?" Sarah pointed wordlessly at her watch and then at Sebastian. Ash groaned again.

"I get it. We're running out of time to find this Pendant and we'd have to drag Sebastian along too if we all left with Rowan. What else can we do, though?" The three teenagers exchanged looks. They knew what they had to do, but that didn't mean they had to like it.

Holly took a deep breath and said "You take Dad underground. We need to get a move on with finding this Pendant. Leave us here. We've got all we need. Trouble will dream what we have to do, Sebastian can protect when he wakes up, Sarah can use her magic and me . . . I guess I'll just tag along."

Trouble grinned,. "No, you'll kick whoever gets in our way's butt." Holly grinned, but Ash was shaking his head vehemently. 

"I can't just _leave_ you above ground! With no adults and people trying to kill you!"

Sarah said stubbornly "We managed just fine when you and Rowan were out." 

"But Root and Foaly will kill me!"

"You need to get Dad below ground before he gets worse." Holly said firmly. "We'll be fine. OK, not fine, but we'll live. Just leave us at least until you can come back up."

"Where'll you be?"

"I dunno, just track us. Recon are supposed to be good at that." Holly said and grinned. 

Ash sighed, then muttered "I can't believe I'm doing this." He shook his head, then continued "Fine. But I'm coming _straight back_ . I'll take Rowan to another port with fairies there and tell them, well, _part_ of the situation. Then I'll come back and track you. As soon as Sebastian wakes up, _move_. Leave _straight away_. Anyone around here will have known we've been here for a while." 

They nodded. Ash hummed to himself and mused aloud "I wonder where the nearest shuttle port is?" 

Trouble remembered what he'd seen last night and said "It's all desert that way." He pointed the way he'd flown the night before, the side of the plateau farthest from where the lift to the port was. Ash was obviously still a little out of it, as he didn't ask how Trouble knew. Holly and Sarah, however, gave him questioning looks. Trouble shook his head and gave them a look that said "Later." They nodded, confused and turned their attention back to Ash.

Ash nodded and said "Yup, got it. It'll take a few hours, straight over the desert. OK, I'll take some water, wings for me, cam foil for Rowan and that's all I need." He stood up and collected everything. Then he remembered something and started digging through his pockets. He pulled something out and looked at it, before holding it out to Holly.

"Here, you guys can keep this until I get back." Holly looked at it. It was a small crystal that was glowing green. 

"Everyone in my team, we're all good friends. We've each got a crystal like this. If one of us is in trouble, our crystal, and everyone else's, glows red. I'll borrow Rowan's until he wakes up. That way I'll know if you guys are in trouble and speed it up."

They nodded. He sighed and wrapped Rowan in the sheet of cam foil. He hooked on the wings and turned to them. "Be careful." They nodded and Ash picked up Rowan and shielded. The blur moved to the edge of the shelf, then turned back to them.

Ash's voice drifted towards them. "The future of the world is up to you guys now." The blur flew off into the distance. Sarah said cheerfully "We're all gonna die."

            Ah, pessimism. Some see the glass as half-empty. Some see it as half-full. I just wonder who the hell is drinking my beer. REVIEW!!!

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Tide: I like shape shifting. It's always interested me. It's no that's _Casper's_ speaking Bird, it's that _Sebastian's_ speaking Bird. **

**Aly: Don't worry, you're special in your own way. Throttle anyone who tells you otherwise. I wanna learn Welsh too, except I've spent six years learning Gaelic and it's bloody _hard_, so I might pass on it. European languages, you say? You're a Yank then. Or a Canadian. Me, I'm Euro. Half-Irish, half-Canadian, spent all my life in Europe. I speak French. Odd people. Also speak a little Nederlands. Even odder language. OK, I'll shut up now.**

**Liaranne: OK, red-tailed hawk named Tobias. Yes, anti-Mary Sue-ish stuff! My beta tells me I'm insane, none of them are Mary Sues, but I dunno. She said Sebastian's too grumpy, Trouble's too thick sometimes, Sarah's just plain insane, and I can't remember what she said about Holly. Anyways, thanks a million for the whatsits. **

**Kogen: Yeah, I cut down the chapters, since I figured they were too long. Odd though, you were the only one to complain. **

Mad Sam: Trouble isn't really angry, just confused and sceptical. You've never heard the expression shape shifter before? You are a deprived child (if you are a child). Read Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' books. Excellent stuff.


	14. Alone?

**Sorry for the long wait, but I caught something. I'm sick, in other words. **

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

****

_Sarah remarked cheerfully "We're all gonna die."_

They fed the fire, pulled Sebastian up to it and sat down around it. Sarah looked around and sighed. "I hope Casper comes back soon.". The falcon had flown off, frightened, when Ash had shot Sebastian. 

Trouble looked up and wondered if now was the time to tell them that he was a shape shifter. But then he'd have to tell them that Sebastian was one too. But then Sebastian _had_ said he'd tell them soon.

Holly seemed to notice Trouble's mental argument with himself (or maybe the frown on his face, either one) and said "Trouble? What's up?"

He said "Umm, well, I've got something to tell you both. Well, Sebastian and I have something to tell you both, but he's still unconscious, so-"

"Stop stalling and get on with it." remarked Sarah. Holly and Trouble rolled their eyes at her complete and utter lack of people skills. Trouble took a deep breath and told them all about him being a shape shifter.

When he'd finished, he looked anxiously at the two of them, hoping they wouldn't be mad at him for not telling them sooner. Holly was looking surprised, Sarah interested.

"You can turn into _any_ animal?" Sarah asked curiously.

"I guess."

"Could you turn into a capybara?"

"What's that?" Trouble asked, startled.

"I'm not quite sure. Apparently, it's a rodent of extremely large size. I've always wondered what they look like."

"I think I need to know what they look like first." Trouble replied.

"So you and Sebastian are shape shifters. Cool." was all Holly said. Trouble was relieved. He should have known they wouldn't have minded. 

Suddenly, Sarah asked "Can you do partial transformations? I've read about them. They're supposed to be pretty cool."

"What are those?" Trouble asked, confused.

"It's when you only transform a certain part of your body. Like change your hair colour or something. Some really good shape shifters from a long time ago were able to change their appearance using their gift."

Trouble shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not that good at it right now. Sebastian might be able to, he's known about his gift since he was a kid, he said." Sarah nodded thoughtfully and poked Sebastian. Then she yelled in his ear.

"WAKE UP ALREADY, YOU COULD BE SPEEDING UP THE IMPENDING APOCALYPSE!" Sebastian didn't budge. Sarah sat back and sighed. Then she brightened and picked up the nearest frying pan. Holly grabbed her arm before she could clobber Sebastian.

"Don't. It wouldn't do anything. Nothing can wake him up. He'll have to wake up naturally."

"That was supposed to be the case with the sleeping gas, and you and I woke up." pointed out Trouble. 

Holly replied "I'd forgotten that. Still, don't hit him. He wouldn't wake up too happy and we all know how grumpy he can be." Sarah nodded and put down the frying pan, then yelled in Sebastian's ear again. Nothing.

Troubles stomach rumbled and he complained "I haven't eaten since yesterday lunch." 

Holly dug through the food bag and said "We should save the ready-to-eat stuff for when we're moving. We'll cook now. Anyone know how?" Trouble shook his head and Sarah replied "Grandma won't let me cook anymore."

"I wonder why." muttered Trouble, which earned him a glare from Sarah. 

Holly sighed and said "Guess it's me then." She pulled something out of the bag and announced "Spaghetti with cheese. We need a saucepan . . . no, that's a frying pan, Sarah, there's a difference, wait here's one . . . OK, we need water." They all looked around and remembered that they were on a rock shelf a few hundred feet above the closest flat ground. 

Holly turned to Trouble and Sarah and said "We have to go get water. I think Sarah should stay here. She's, ummm, more dangerous in the air and we need to fly steady." 

Trouble stood up and said "I'll look for a river or something, then come back and tell Holly." He walked over to the edge of the shelf and Holly was about to call to remind him he needed a pair of wings, before she remembered what he'd just told them. Sarah watched with interest as Trouble stood on the edge of the shelf, looking down.

"I've never seen a shape shifting before." she commented. Holly nodded.

"Me neither." They watched as Trouble concentrated for a second, then as his form fluidly changed shape. In the blink of an eye, a hawk sat where Trouble had stood. The jaws of the two fairies watching dropped as the hawk threw itself off the shelf and flew upwards, scanning the ground, swooping very now and then to check something.

"Lucky. It'd be cool to be a shape shifter." Sarah said enviously.

"Yeah, but it would have its drawbacks. Always hearing animals talking, for one thing. And Dad told me that sometimes, if a shape shifter goes onto the territory of an animal, the animal will think it's a rival and attack it. That would be kinda annoying, if you always had animals trying to kill you." 

"True." Sarah mused. "I think I'll just stick with my magic." Holly opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a rather large bird swooping out of the sky, nicking their empty sauce pan and flying down to the plateau. 

Holly and Sarah stared after it for a while, until Holly remarked "I hope that was Trouble."

Sarah's eyes widened and she said in a hushed voice "What if it wasn't?" She was silent for a few moments, thinking about something, then mused "Now why is that familiar?" Then she remembered and shrieked "It's The Birds all over again!"

Holly gave her an odd look, trying to figure out just what the heck she was on about, then remembered. Sarah had an odd fixation with watching Mud Man movies. Frond knows how she gets hold of them, thought Holly. Actually, how _does_ she get hold of them? Must ask her, Holly made a mental note, then tried to calm Sarah down.

 A few minutes later, the same bird returned with the sauce pan, now filled with water, set it down gently beside Holly, then turned into Trouble. Sarah sighed with relief, earning a weird look from Trouble. 

Ten minutes after that, they were all quietly eating their food. They were quiet and not talking on account of their mouths being otherwise occupied, i.e. forking food in as fast as could be considered decent. Though when you're in the middle of nowhere,  with no adults around, an unconscious comrade to look after and people trying to kill you, there isn't a lot of things that don't pass as "decent". 

When they'd finished, they put away the remains of their meal and set about doing what they'd presumably do until Sebastian woke up and they could get moving: absolutely nothing. Sarah sat over by the wall, practising levitating, moving and (most disturbingly) exploding random objects lying around (Holly and Trouble had refused point-blank to let her practise on Sebastian. "We'll need him when they start attacking us." Trouble had predicted darkly). Trouble pulled a book out of his bag and leaned against the rock wall, occasionally stopping to turn into whatever random and odd animal crossed his mind. Sebastian slept.

Holly sat by the rock edge, far enough back so that anything below couldn't see her, but so she could see most of the plateau. After a mind-numbingly dull hour or two, Holly heard something faint coming from below. She leaned forwards, straining her ears.

            There it was again. This time it was a little louder. She listened some more, then heard it again, louder this time. It was definitely coming closer. Again she heard it, this time properly. It was a soft clinking sound, followed by a crunching noise and the whole time accompanied by what sounded like ragged breathing.

            Holly's eyes widened as she realized what it was. Someone was climbing the rock face up to them.

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Liaranne: Thank you :) You liked that line? Takes all kinds, I just thought it was what Trouble would say to reassure Holly. I was a bit worried about the shape-shifting thing, it seemed a bit random, but I think I pulled it off. Yeah, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes books rock. I've read some Tamora Pierce books. The Circle Opens, those four. That's it. My beta's lending me the next four, though. If she ever finishes the Artemis Fowl books I lent her.**

**Mage Kitty: FF.net was very annoying these past few days. Everything's annoying you? I know that feeling. I wouldn't be so paranoid if everything wasn't out to get me. Grrr . . . DEATH TO ALL TYPOS!!! **

**Adele Starminster (Midnight Moonbeam): Cool, I'll go read it.**

**Aly: Shot chappies, because then you'll get them more often. Or you can have long chappies not so often. I'm learning Spanish, but I'm not that good at it. Only been doing it since September. But evil school decided that al languages must be learned everyday for 45 minutes. So I have 45 minutes of bloody French and 45 minutes of bloody Spanish. How is it blunt? I think I eased off on the details. Do you think I should go back to detailed descriptions? Australian? Cool! I've never been there, but when my Mum and Da were younger, they hitchhiked around Australia. They tell me it's a very nice place, nice people. I'm Irish-Canadian myself.**


	15. Leaving

**I'm still sick. I feel v. blah.**

CHAPTER FIFTEEN 

            _Holly's eyes widened as she realized what it was. Someone was climbing the rock face up to them._

            She sat, frozen, for a moment, then turned and shot forwards like a bullet from a gun. Trouble looked up, saw Holly bearing down on him and yelped. He hastily stood up and jumped out of her way. He was about to say something angrily, but Holly clapped her hand over his mouth. Sarah looked up, noticed this odd behaviour and came over.

            "What's up? Food disagreeing with you?" she inquired cheerfully. They both gave her the oddest looks and silently cursed their graphic imaginations, then Holly shook her head vigorously and jerked it in the direction of the cliff. Trouble and Sarah exchanged glances, then looked questioningly at her.

Holly sighed, released Trouble and said quietly "Someone's climbing up the cliff face. I heard them. We've got to get out of here _right now_." Trouble walked silently over to the edge, stopped a bit before it and listened closely. He froze as he too heard the climber. He ran back over to the other two and nodded emphatically.

Sarah, who had by now been worked out to be insane under normal conditions, but calm and logical in a crisis situation, said quietly "We need to move before he sees us. Chances are we won't do so well in a chase, what with all the stuff and Sebastian to take with us." Holly and Trouble's expressions grew even more dismayed. They'd completely forgotten they had an unconscious elf to lug along if they left now.

Holly started quickly packing things. Well, I say pack, but it was more like a stuff-as-much-stuff-into-as-little-space-as-possible race. She spoke quietly and hurriedly as she worked. "We'll leave the stuff we don't need. Make it look like they missed us by a few hours, or even a day, if they're stupid. Get the wings. We'll shield and fly off somewhere, I dunno where, with Sebastian and the rest of the stuff in the cam foil."

After roughly three minutes of almost silent running around and frantic packing, with mundane comments every now and then from Sarah ("I'm bored." "Any more food?" "Is that book good?". Apparently, they made things "sound more normal"), they were set and the noises from the climber were audible even from the middle of the shelf. 

Trouble grabbed his bag, then looked at the others and asked "Do we really need to leave? I mean, we _are_ armed. We could stun him, then just . . ."

"Stay here with two unconscious fairies? One of whom would most probably kill us when he wakes up, and however grumpy Sebastian can be, I'm not talking about him. What if more come? Would we take him with us? Or what if no others come? Do we take him with us then? Or leave him here, unconscious, most probably to die?" Sarah replied without looking up from what she was doing.

Holly and Trouble stared at her, amazed. Sarah had always been the last person they'd have looked to for a level head in a crisis. Then Holly realized something and paled. 

Sarah shot her a glance and asked with concern "What is it, Holly?"

"I just realized. I didn't see the climber and he was too far away to hear properly."

"So?"

"So there could easily be more than one of them and I wouldn't have known." They all stopped for a second, then resumed what they were doing with more speed than they'd been going at before, trying not to think about what could happen if they didn't get away in time.

Holly hooked a pair of wings on her back, helped Sarah with hers and nervously flicked her gaze between Trouble wrapping Sebastian in cam foil and the cliff edge. After what seemed like hours, Trouble stood up and nodded. Holly looked at Sarah, who nodded too and picked up what seemed to be an armful of shimmering air. Trouble grabbed the large flickering bundle that was Sebastian and shielded himself. Sarah did so too and then Holly switched on her own shield.

That was when she realized they had no way of communicating with each other. She quickly unshielded, pointed to a far off ridge that was just visible in the distance, then shielded again. She grabbed the cam foil-wrapped box that was her load and took to the air, straining her ears to try and hear the engines of Trouble and Sarah's wings, just to let her know she wasn't alone. But they were whisper quiet, so no such luck. 

Holly took several deep breaths and ascended to about 20 feet above the shelf, just as two goblins and an elf pulled themselves up and over the crest and stood up, guns pointing wildly around, trying to find the fairies who had mysteriously disappeared. Holly turned and flew off to the ridge, her ears filled with the sound of the thumping of her heart and the swears of the climbers.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Trouble shifted Sebastian carefully, knowing that one wrong movement or jerk would send the unconscious elf tumbling down to the plateau several hundred feet below. His arms were getting tired, and he was barely a third of the way to the ridge Holly had frantically indicated right before the climbers reached the top. Trouble shuddered at the thought of their lucky escape.

He firmly turned his thoughts away from that particular train of thought, to the not-much-more-reassuring one of what they were going to do next. Stay put until Sebastian woke up? Move a safer distance away from their pursuers? He sighed and shifted Sebastian a little to the left to prevent losing all circulation in his hand.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sarah was the last in the invisible line, due to the fact that she kept slowing down and looking round to see of they were being followed. This might also have to do with the fact that she kept jerking herself perilously close to the surrounding rock walls. She still didn't _quite_ have the hang of the whole "flying safe" thing. 

She looked ahead and strained her eyes for that by-now-familiar blur, but either they were too far away or they weren't there. She shook her head, firmly told herself to be optimistic and not to let Sebastian's pessimism influence her. She set her gaze on the still distant ridge and thumbed the accelerator on the controls, nearly decapitating herself on a hanging lip of rock.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sebastian was dozing peacefully, surrounded by a thick grey fog. Thankfully, the thumping in his head had diminished again. It had gotten far too loud for comfort a few minutes ago, and though it was still loud, he could go back to ignoring it. Those three must be juggling knives, crocodiles or something equally dangerous, he thought.

It was odd, really, he reflected. He couldn't move, see, hear, smell, taste, feel or really _do_ anything, but he could _think_ quite clearly. And he had no desire at all to wake up and go back to the other world, not when he could stay here, away from anything pointy, explosive, angry or with the general intent to get him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Holly landed on the ridge after about fifteen minutes and looked around for the others, but they weren't there yet. After another few minutes, a large blur landed on the ridge beside her. Five minutes later, another blur about her size landed too. 

She sighed with relief and opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when she saw a fourth blur land. She froze, then shut her mouth and pretended that she hadn't seen any of them, to buy herself some time to think.

She had to talk to Trouble and Sarah without the fourth blur hearing. But that was impossible. Then she remembered Sebastian's gift. But he's unconscious, a part of her brain reminded the rest angrily. Another part said "Still, have to try." She calmed herself down (not an easy task, given the current situation) and focused her mind on one task. Talk to Sebastian.

She tentatively tried what she'd always done before; the mental equivalent of a poke. But there seemed to be a thick wall around Sebastian. She considered her options, but the blurs were shifting, moving around, towards each other and towards her. And that temper of Holly Short's that she would become famed for in the LEP? Well, she lost it. You do have to feel sorry for Sebastian.

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Liaranne: This flu's going around, though I doubt you live where I do. :) Damn grammar, I _wondered_ about that line, but I decided to leave it that way. Wrong choice, I guess. For the Tamora Pierce books, I read the four that came first. Sandry's Book, Tris's Book, Daja's Book and Briar's Book. I can't remember the name of the series. But anyways. Good books. I'll ask about the Tortall series. Thanks for the tip. :)**

**Mad Sam: 15? You're older than me. I am also a deprived child, though I don't mind, because I am always in my own world. Headphones on ALL the time (right now, too), always reading, on the computer or just zoning out. My old school's shrink told me I'm too antisocial for my health. I told her that she was entering those dangerous heart attack years and she shouldn't put so much mayonnaise on her sandwich. She kinda laid off after that. Wonder why. My grandmothers don't treat me as a child coz one died when my Da was 19 and the other lives on the other side of the world, so I hardly ever see her. When I read the last line of your review, about what you want to say, I laughed out loud and got a lot of strange looks from everyone else in the school library. Thanks, that really nice compliment made my day :)**

**Adele Starminster: Sorry, I didn't understand that review. Can you run it by me again?**

**Mage Kitty: I did that last week :) I turned it fluorescent light green, which wreaks merry hell on everyone's eyes. And I locked it so no one 'cept me could change it back :) But then when my eyes were watering so much I couldn't see, I changed it back to boring old black. I tried to change it to white, but it wouldn't let me. YES!!!! I DEFEATED EVIL TYPOS!!!! For one chappie at least. Oh well. Hope it lasts. :)******


	16. This Is Now

**A/N Damn, damn, damn! Apologies. I accidentally posted a chapter ahead of what I should have. Thanks to Liaranne for pointing it out to me. Damn, I'm an idiot.**

CHAPTER FIFTEEN 

Sebastian was still dozing when what felt like a sledgehammer hit him on the back of the skull. In the quiet confines of his mind, he screamed every expletive he knew (which was quite a few). He tried to shift his body to get away from whatever it was, but (as mentioned before) in the world of the living, he was unconscious, so nothing happened. The thing hit him once more and he yelled again. He started thrashing, moving, _anything_ to get away from it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Holly heard a distant scream in her mind and knew it had to be Sebastian. She winced. She'd forgotten that it hurt him if they got too violent with the connection. She whacked the mental wall around Sebastian one more time, then started mentally yelling.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sebastian relaxed as the hammering stopped. For a wonderful minute, there was peace. Then, Holly's voice boomed in his head. She did not sound happy _at all_.

"SEBASTIAN, YOU WAKE UP RIGHT NOW, WE ARE _NOT_ GOING TO DIE BECAUSE YOU NEED A REST! WAKE UP!"

He yelled in surprise, then roared back "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME? DO _NOT_ DO THAT AGAIN! NOW WHAT IS IT?!?!"

Holly's voice, when she replied was quieter, a bit sheepish. "Look, I'll explain when you wake up, but just tell Trouble and Sarah _mentally_ that they need to fly somewhere. Anywhere. We'll communicate through you after a while, when we're safe. Look, don't ask, just do it and believe me when I say it's a matter of life or death!"

"Fine, just don't do that again." he snapped in reply.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Trouble and Sarah were looking around them, trying to figure out where Holly was (like Holly had thought, they hadn't noticed the extra blur). All of a sudden, Sebastian's irritated voice echoed in their minds.

"Don't ask, just listen. Holly wants me to tell you guys that you need to fly somewhere. Anywhere, just away from here. She says communicate through me, thanks very much, when you're landed somewhere and safe."

Trouble asked, confused "Why?"

Sebastian replied to both of them. "I have no idea, but I can tell you're in trouble, however that might be, maybe there's someone else there. All righty, then, fly, my pretties, fly!" They both smiled, but quickly concentrated on the task at hand.

They thought for a minute, then took the first alternative to staying that presented itself. They shot into the air faster than a bullet. Holly watched them go, then shrugged and followed. The fourth blur, after a minute, shot after them. The three teenagers split off in different directions. The fourth blur stopped in mid air, then followed the closest blur, since the other two were too far off to see anymore.

Holly zipped through the air, feeling happier by the minute. She loved flying, though she hardly ever got the chance to. She'd have to ask Sebastian to find her a set of wings somehow. She knew he had a million and one ways of getting things. She changed direction, following the path of the gorge she was flying in. She had just relaxed (which, as any Recon officer will tell you, is a big no-no), when a beam shot past her, missing her by inches, and cut a hole in the rock face in front of her.

She snapped her mouth shut to stop the surprised yell from coming out. He can't see her, he's just randomly aiming, she told herself. She cranked up the speed and headed upwards, so as not to get trapped between the shooter and the ground.

Another shot missed her. She flew higher, zigzagging across the sky. Another shot. She was getting desperate. She was in an open sky, with the mountains off to her side, and a very lucky shooter right behind her. She never knew what might have happened next, because a beam appeared from nowhere out of the sky in front of her. Her only thought was "D'Arvit, there's two of them."

She was wrong, though. The shot wasn't aimed for her. She heard a yell behind her, turned around and saw a goblin on wings unshield and drop out of the sky, down to a river below. She heard a dim splash and watched him be carried down the current. She sighed in relief and flew ahead, to whoever had shot the goblin. 

She hovered in front of him and thought "Sebastian, what's happening?"

Sebastian's voice replied in her mind "Sarah's off on the other side of that big mountain. She can go pretty damn fast on those wings. Trouble's right in front of you, with me. He saw you being shot at, told me and I told him to hurry up and bloody _shoot_ something already. He says he needs some practice. Couldn't work up the nerve for a bit, until I yelled at him enough."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Aren't you encouraging. OK, let's go find Sarah." They turned towards the mountain, when they heard a distant rumble behind them. They spun and watched as an elf and a goblin took to the air, both unshielded. The elf looked around for a minute or two, then flew off in the opposite direction as the teenagers. The goblin followed him.

All three of the teenagers sighed in relief, then turned and flew for the mountain. They were silent as they flew, all wondering the same thing. How had their lives changed so much in just a few days? They'd gone from normal schoolchildren (well, not Sebastian. They hadn't dared ask him what he'd been doing before), to fighting goblins and trying to save the world.

A criminal trying to save the world? Sebastian had to smile at the irony of it all. Holly wondered if this was what her father went through every time he was sent above ground. Trouble wondered how his family was getting on, since he was the only one with siblings and both parents. Sebastian and Sarah had neither, while Holly was an only child. He sighed and told himself he could worry about that after their job was done. He smiled at how businesslike that sounded.

After half an hour, they reached the other side of the mountain, then looked around for Sarah. Sebastian silently told them where to fly and they soon landed under an outcrop of rock, which would give them enough shelter for the night.

Sarah appeared from nowhere when they landed and randomly hugged the blurs that were Holly and Trouble, then took her wings off and sat down. Trouble and Holly unshielded, then put down their loads with a groan. 

Trouble stretched his arms and back and muttered "Either Sebastian eats too much, or he's got enough metal under that trench coat to line a submarine." Holly pushed her box over to Sarah's box, then sat down beside Sarah, taking off her wings and putting them beside Sarah's.

Trouble placed his wings beside the others, then pulled the cam foil off Sebastian, revealing his still sleeping form. Trouble frowned and said "I thought he'd be awake, after being able to talk to us."

Holly said sheepishly "I think I might have done it. When I talked to him the first time, I think I whacked too hard on the mental wall around him." The other two winced. Trouble rolled Sebastian over to Holly and Sarah, then sank down against the rock beside them. There was quiet for a while, then Holly silently dug through the box and passed out some food.

They ate in silence. The dark sky opened and it started to rain, but they were protected by the overhanging lip of rock above them. They watched the rain pour down a few feet away, then Trouble broke the silence by saying "What do we do now?"

Sarah replied "I'm going to sleep."

"But it's the middle of the afternoon!"

She shrugged. "So? I get the idea that our bodies are all going to be messed up by this stay above ground. Not to mention our metabolisms. Or our internal clocks. Anyways, I'm tired, so I'm going to sleep. Good ni- afternoon." She lay down. Trouble watched her for a second, then shrugged and lay down too. The two of them were asleep in about five minutes.

Holly sighed. "Guess I'm on watch then." She settled back against the rock to watch the downpour outside. The rhythmic pattering of rain drops on rock lulled her. Her eyes slowly closed. Her breathing slowed and evened. Her head leaned back against the rock. In the darkness outside, a pair of eyes watched.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sebastian opened his eyes, as suddenly and as totally awake as if someone had yelled in his ear. Which, in fact, someone had. He rolled over and round himself nose to beak with a very irritated looking Casper. 

Casper leaned closer and hissed "You should be dead. You are a fool, you are _all_ fools. There is no one watching and you are in new surroundings. Your supposed _guard_ fell asleep a few hours ago. And you? You had to go get yourself shot! Right when they needed you most. They were attacked, you understand? And you slept. They carried you, slowed themselves down and you _slept_."

Sebastian retorted angrily "I had no control over it! Ash is helping us, I wasn't to know he'd shoot me!"

"You took a risk you didn't have to! What would _you_ have done if you woke up somewhere you didn't remember and someone leant over you?"

Sebastian's silence was answer enough for Casper. "Are you _trying_ to get all of you killed? Because unless you all smarten up, you'll be dead before the next sunrise!"

Sebastian's temper, always so close to the surface lately, exploded. "Don't you think I know that?! Don't you think that if I knew how to get us out of here safely, I would?! Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I _don't_. I have no idea what to do, so congratulations, you've proved your point. Just do one thing for me, all right? Bury me deep." He rolled over angrily, to face away from Casper, but the falcon wasn't giving up that easily. 

He hopped around Sebastian and hissed at him "Would you listen to yourself? _Grow up_, child. Accept it. "This is now, and we are here." You know those words?" Sebastian said nothing.

"And you know what they mean? You must do what is laid before you. There is a _reason_, child. I can't claim to know it, but there is _always_ a reason. Get used to the idea of not being in control. It will serve you well the rest of your life. You and your friends are here to serve a purpose, so hurry up and _serve it_. Refrain from stopping in horror whenever something bad happens. Life is not fair. Just get _on_ with it."

Sebastian sat up and glared at Casper. "And how do you claim to be so knowledgeable? What have you seen and done that means you can lord it over us all?"

Casper returned the glare in full force. "I do not have to answer your question, but I will do so, _in part_. I am older than you can claim to know. Do you really believe that we creatures who live above ground and know of the People have lives as short as humans? I have seen ten centuries, and lived among both humans and fairies.

"I know of things, ancient things. Have you not realized why the first battle for the Pendant was fought here, of all places? Why did Tarlang Caillas come here? I shall tell you, since you do not know. He _lived_ here. This was his home. It is perfect, isolated enough for anyone with a terrible secret to guard. He was alone here, except for the animals. Caillas was a shape shifter as well, you know. My ancestors befriended him.

"I grew up hearing stories of the battle Caillas fought, and of the Pendant of Halifirien. When Tarlang's descendants came calling, years later, there was always one of my kind there to guide them. But they never found it. It was not yet time. I never thought, however, in all my years of travel and learning, that I would have to guide an heir of Caillas myself . . ." Casper trailed off, staring into the distance.

Sebastian propped himself up on his elbows and asked, his anger forgotten, "Do you know which one of us it is?"

Casper shook his head, then sighed and said "You have no idea, none of you can have any idea of what you are undertaking. The world has waited millennia for this to start. And now it has. _Why_ does fate have to make things so much harder? As if the task wasn't hard enough already, it has to be given to _children_."

Sebastian sank back down and stared at the sky, his thoughts in turmoil. Nothing made sense. Yet somehow _everything_ made sense. This was what they had to do. So why did he feel as if something had gone terribly wrong? He shook his head and decided to wake someone up, just to talk with them. Casper had produced another dead animal (this one was already half-eaten, so Sebastian couldn't tell what exactly it was) and was ripping it apart with apparent glee. Sebastian made a face, sat up and looked around properly.

Trouble and Sarah were lying down, fast asleep, but Holly was propped up, leaning against the rock. She must have been on guard when she fell asleep, Sebastian decided. He looked closer. All three looked exhausted. He had just decided against waking someone up when Holly gave a start and shot up, looking around wildly. She groaned and sank back against the rock, muttering darkly under her breath about bloody prophecies giving bloody stupid gifts. 

****

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Mage Kitty: YES!!! Evil typos . . . Green is * very * nice.  I dyed my hair green, umm . . . two days ago. For St. Patrick's Day :) Even though my evil school told me I wasn't allowed to. I did anyway. Question and defy authority.**

**Liaranne: Thanks for the compliment :) Sometimes I think I'm being too blunt and I need more details, but I guess it's OK. About Sebastian, it wasn't supposed to seem like he's a coward. He's just fed up with everyone being after him. Damn it if I got the wrong meaning across. Oh, well. I liked the bit about Holly's temper too. Just seemed about time she lost it :) And thanks for pointing out the chapter error.**

**Mad Sam: I'm not sure if the bit about your gran is a good thing or bad, coz I've never lived closer than a continent away from mine. I don't think that shrink knew too much either. The people following them were the same ones from the ledge.**

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	17. Cause And Effect

**A/N This is the chapter I accidentally posted instead of Chapter 16. Some people had the chance to read it before I replaced it with the REAL Chapter 16. So, I decided that since it isn't new to some of you, what the hell, I'll give you two chapters. **

**            CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

"What's up?" Sebastian inquired. Holly's head jerked up at the sound, but smiled when she saw Sebastian was finally awake.

"Nice to see you too. It's that gift of mine. Whatshisname, Tarcil's pretty damn livid now. I think he's found out that we're alive, well and currently in the south of Mongolia. That's about it. Hey, Casper's back!" Casper flew over and landed on her shoulder. She reached up and stroked him.

He made a keening noise, which made Sarah mutter "No, I don't like fish." and roll over, jabbing Trouble with her elbow in the process. He muttered something with the word "capybara" in it, then rolled over as well. They both went back to sleep.

Casper remarked to Sebastian "I really have no idea why, but I really _did_ miss you four." Sebastian translated for Holly, who grinned and poked Casper, earning herself a glare. 

Just then, Sarah sat up, looked around blearily and said "Oh, good. Bird's back. Ah, so's the felon. Nice to see you both again."

Holly and Sebastian were in fits of silent laughter at Sarah's way of expressing herself, but Casper wasn't looking too happy. He flew over to Sarah's shoulder and started pecking her. Sarah flapped her hand at him a few times in a vain attempt to make him go away, then gave up and, for lack of anything else to do, started poking Trouble, who made an odd growling noise.

Holly glanced questioningly at Sebastian, who replied "Shape shifting's getting to him. Next thing you know, he'll be biting people who pat him on the head." Holly's jaw dropped, but then she noticed the glint in Sebastian's eyes. She glared at him and elbowed him in the ribs. Casper rolled his eyes and said "Seeing as you all have so much energy, you might as well get going. No one will be looking for you at night."

Sebastian translated for Holly and Sarah, then Trouble added "I know where we have to go. It's the place I saw in my dream. A house cut into the rock, in a gorge. I know how to get there but I dunno whose house it is."

"It's Tarlang's. Or it was. Casper told me." Sebastian filled them in on the gist of what Casper had told him about his past.

Holly cast an eye over the falcon and asked "Are you really a thousand years old? Casper nodded and fluffed his feathers proudly, then jumped back over to beside Sebastian, where the dead animal he'd captured was lying.

Sarah remarked absent-mindedly "That'd be towards the end of middle age for a falcon, hmm?" Casper nodded and started ripping meat off the animal as Sarah continued "Just so you know, you're entering those dangerous heart attack years. You might want to cut down on the red meat."

Casper choked on the piece of meat he'd been in the process of swallowing. Everyone else hastily stifled their laughter, except for Sarah, who looked around, offended and retorted huffily "Well, _excuse me_ for trying to ensure a long and healthy life for a friend."

Casper flapped his wings and said icily "In case you've all forgotten, you have a world to save. But if you would prefer to sit here, it makes no difference to me, I'll be dead anyway."

Trouble and Sebastian both asked sharply "Why?" 

Casper replied, in a voice that said he very much regretted having just said that, "It's nothing. Just an old superstition among falcons."

"Well?"

Casper sighed. "It is a long story, that you have no need to know."

"Tell us anyway." Trouble requested firmly.

Casper sighed again, then began the story. "Falcons are very proud creatures, like many others, but more so than most. The particular group of falcons who live around this plateau are different than others, through an . . .  accident that happened here many years ago. This accident was the fault of Tarlang Caillas, who as you know, lived here for many years, in self-imposed isolation, from the time he was a bit younger than you until the prime of his life. Then, the battle took place and he returned to civilization, married, had a family, etc.

"But before then, when he was not much older than you, he did something that some call accidental, some call planned, and all call a mixed blessing. Like most do when they are alone for long periods of time, he read a great many books and practised what he learned. One such thing was magic. He came upon a spell that prolonged life far beyond what it normally should be. 

"But it was a weak spell, designed to add only a few decades to the life of a fairy. But Tarlang reasoned that if it was weak when performed on a large creature, it should be powerful when performed on a _small_ one. He had also wished for a way to thank the creatures of this plateau, who had for so long helped him  and put up with him. So he cast the spell and threw it to the wind. All the animals around here were affected. But the ones who were the most affected were the ones closest to where the spell was cast. The wind-riders. The flyers. The falcons.

"So, like most life-altering spells will do, we are forever bound to the caster and his line. Several descendants of Tarlang have come here, one by one, to try and follow the trail he must have left to the Pendant. All of them seeked to destroy it. A sign that the line was well chosen for the guardianship, is it not? All of them were aided by a falcon. As you well know, whoever destroys the Pendant would win great fame and respect, once the story was told to the world.

"Falcons, notoriously proud and jealous creatures, were always resentful when a descendant would appear and set off with a falcon guiding him, always to thoughts of victory, always to eventual defeat, even though it would be half a millennium between arrivals. Those falcons left behind would dream of the adventures the missing falcon would have to tell and revel in when he returned. But none ever succeeded. My grandmother was one of the few who never returned.

"A story was always told, in the wake of a departure. That whichever falcon who succeeded would consider himself too good for us on the plateau. For this whole _world_, even. And my grandmother's son, my father, like all falcons resentful of a family member who left them behind for a chance at saving the world, ate it up. Believed it completely. So of course, he agreed with the reasoning that this falcon would be too good to live on this world. So he would die, to go on to the perfect afterlife. It wouldn't matter how he would die, perhaps he would just keel over, but he would die none the less, to he receive the glory he deserved.

"This story continued, even after the descendants stopped coming. My father told me it, and he also told me not to hate those who left. There is a reason for everything. But I never had the chance to hate anyone, because none left. The story of the Pendant was lost, you see? Only the falcons now know of it, except for you, those who you fight and those who aid you. You are the first to come for at least two thousand years. 

"It is just a superstition, but you now understand just how much impact the Pendant truly has over the world."

There was silence when Casper finished his tale. Trouble had been translating the story for Holly and Sarah as Casper spoke, so all four were staring at him. Well, three were staring. Holly was staring thoughtfully off into the distance.

"You said he had books of magic in his house? Maybe that's why we need to go there. To his house, I mean. Sarah can use the books. Or maybe we just have to follow the trail." she mused.

"Whatever it is, we'd better get going." Sarah commented in a business-like tone. They all groaned, but started getting their stuff together anyway. Casper flew to a rock to watch them. In a few minutes, they were all ready to go. Another few minutes were then spent persuading Trouble that he should wear wings, not shift into a bird shape. Finally, Holly looked around, got nods from everyone and said to Trouble "Lead the way."

He grudgingly started up his wings, shielded and flew out from under the rock lip, into the pouring rain, closely followed by three blurs and a bird.

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	18. Stairs

**A/N Here is the second of the two chapters I'm posting together.**

****

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

They didn't get very far. After ten minutes of unshielding and frantic gestures to try to get meanings of dead ends or rock lips across, Sebastian's exasperated voice sounded in the other's heads. "We need a better way of communicating. Let's land and see if we accidentally brought a communications rig or something useful like that." They proceeded to land on a rock shelf, then they all unshielded.

Because fairies vibrate so fast when they're shielded, they don't get wet in the rain, the water just sort of bounces off. The same cannot be said for when they're _un_shielded, though. Within ten seconds spent in the visible spectrum, Sebastian, Holly, Sarah and Trouble were all soaked. Casper, who lived in that kind of weather, didn't mind it at all. 

Sebastian held his coat over Holly and Sarah as they opened a box, careful to keep its contents under the protection of Sebastian's coat and not get them wet. Holly hurriedly pawed through the contents, then triumphantly pulled out the microphones and earpieces Foaly had given them in Ops, and they had pulled off in the shuttle.

"I hope these work in the rain" she muttered as she fitted in her earpiece and attached the microphone. The others did the same, working quickly so they could get going again. Sarah spoke into her microphone and her cheerful voice came through the others' earpieces. "Testing, testing. Can you hear me?" They all gave her the thumbs-up, then quickly shielded and started off again.

They flew in silence for a while until Trouble's voice sounded in their earpieces. "Wait. I don't remember this bit. Hold on while I remember my dream." They hovered for a moment, then Trouble said decisively "That way. Turn left. Your _other_ left, Sarah."

"Which one?" Sarah asked, thoroughly confused. After an emergency training session in which Sarah finally learned right from left, they flew into the gorge to their left and followed its winding path. After many twists and turns and four U-turns to go back and get Sarah, who'd either concussed herself or hit a rock wall, the gorge joined another, which had a river in it.

They followed the now-joined gorges and the river below, which was flowing faster and growing larger by the minute, what with all the rain pouring down in torrents. Trouble stayed close to the right side of the gorge, so the others followed him. He stayed close to the wall, obviously looking for something, though the others couldn't imagine what. Suddenly, he stopped dead, in mid air, causing a pile-up and almost sending Sarah tumbling down into the river below. Luckily, Sebastian had the sense to grab her.

They turned back to Trouble, who had disappeared into a small crevasse in the rock wall. They looked at each other, shrugged and followed him. It was pitch black inside, but Trouble's voice in their earpieces told them "Just fly straight ahead." They did and soon saw a pinpoint of light in the distance, which rapidly grew into an opening big enough to fit a shuttle through.

They flew through the hole and blinked in the (comparatively) bright light that was trickling in from a small crack in the rock where the left wall met the roof of rock. They looked around while Trouble nodded and said in a satisfied voice "This is the place." 

They were in another gorge, though this one was different and very well hidden. Presumably, at one time it had been a normal gorge, surrounded on three sides by rock and the fourth open to the sky. But at one point, there must have been an earthquake, for the surface beside the right edge of the gorge had been broken in two. The lower part had stayed where it was, while the other had been pushed over the opening of the gorge until it overlapped the other side.

So what was left was a gorge that was closed off from the sky. From above, it looked like there was a hairline crack where the two edges overlapped, but inside it was about fifty feet wide. The only way in or out was where Trouble had led them through. A perfect hiding spot.

Trouble looked around and murmured "I didn't see which way to go after this. I was blinded by the sudden increase in light in my dream." He glanced in both directions and hazarded a guess. "Ah . . . that way?" Sarah, who was the farthest to the right, the way Trouble was pointing, flew off, happy to be in front for once. She flew around the corner and the next thing Holly, Trouble and Sebastian heard was a thump, a shriek and a lot of swearing.

The flew around the corner cautiously and found themselves facing a sheer rock wall. They looked wildly around for Sarah. Then they looked down. She was stuck, half-in, half-out of a stunted tree growing horizontally out of the rock wall. (**A/N There's _always_ a tree like that, defeating the law of nature that says things _cannot_ grow out of solid rock. Just like whenever there's a chase in the streets, the person chasing will _always_ be slowed down by someone coming out of a side street with a rack of clothing. Or if not clothing, it's two men with a huge sheet of glass. There has to be some secret society behind all of this.**)

Holly flew down, hiding her grin, to Sarah and disentangled her from the tree. Trouble tried to keep a straight face and said "I think it's the other way."

Sarah, now free, flew straight towards him, growling "I'll show _you_ "I think it's the other way". Hey! Come back here! Trouble!"

But Trouble had already flown off, with Sarah in hot pursuit. Holly and Sebastian looked at each other, then shrugged and followed the other two. Casper, who had been bemusedly following them around, sighed and resignedly flew after Holly and Sebastian. Holly caught up with a fuming Sarah after a minute or two. Sebastian flew past them, ahead to Trouble, while Holly tried to calm Sarah down.

Just as Sebastian reached him, Trouble stopped dead in mid-air. Startled, Sebastian slammed on the brakes and did a somersault in mid-air. "That was _cool_. Can you teach me to do that?" an admiring voice said.

Sebastian turned to see Sarah hovering beside him, having completely forgotten her earlier anger. He just shook his head in wonderment, then turned back to see what had gotten into Trouble. He followed Trouble's fixed gaze and his jaw dropped. Intricately carved into the rock wall was a building. A house, to be precise. There were columns and balconies, windows (at the moment covered with shutters) and a very strong-looking door.

Holly flew up to the three others. "Hey, what're you . . . all . . . looking . . ." Her voice trailed off into silence as she took in the huge house.

"D'Arvit." Sebastian murmured. Trouble, Holly and Sarah nodded absent-mindedly, too busy examining the house. Casper watched them all with amusement. It _was_ an impressive house, he had to admit, but he'd seen it many times before and the novelty had worn off. Holly was the first to shake herself out of the reverie. 

"C'mon, let's go in." she said and flew down without waiting for the others. Casper quickly followed her and jabbered in her ear for a minute. Holly waited for him to finish, then said patiently "Casper, I don't speak Bird. You have to talk to Sebastian or Trouble." Casper rolled his eyes and flew back up to the other three.

He settled on Sebastian's shoulder and pecked him rather viciously on the ear until Sebastian pushed him off  his shoulder and said irritably "You could have just said something. That violence was uncalled for."

Casper rolled his eyes yet again, which prompted Holly to say pleasantly "You shouldn't do that so much, you could get them stuck back there someday." 

"I've got one nerve left and you're getting on it. Now will you all _please_ shut up and _listen_." Casper snapped. Trouble translated for Holly and Sarah, who frowned, but turned their attention to Casper anyway.

"That, as you may have gathered, is the house of Tarlang Caillas. Among my kind, it is known as the Kobalt, which means "evil spirit", because when Tarlang first came here, we did not trust him and thought of him and his house with fear. After Tarlang and my kind became allies, when he learned of our name for his house, he found it very amusing and we kept the name as a kind of joke. And so it has stayed to this day."

Sebastian and Trouble were listening attentively to Casper, as was Holly (to Trouble's translation), but Sarah was looking bored, so Casper hurriedly got to the point. "There is much magic in this place. However, it has been spelled to recognize a descendant of Tarlang, so no traps or protective devices will harm us. So do not worry. Now hurry up and get _in_ there."

No one commented that they would already be inside if Casper hadn't talked to them, they just flew down and landed in front of the door. They took off their wings and put them in their bags, then they looked at each other uneasily, wondering who would go first.

Sebastian shrugged and walked up to the door. He stopped in front of it and reached for the handle, then stopped. He pulled his hand back suddenly and did the strangest thing, that made no sense to Holly, Sarah and Trouble, but made Casper nod approvingly. Sebastian took hold of the stone knocker and knocked it against the stone door.

There was silence, then the door opened, revealing a pitch black interior. Sarah walked up to stand behind Sebastian, who moved out of the way. Sarah took a deep breath and stepped into the dark house. She took another step and promptly had a staircase encounter of the rapidly descending kind.

The others winced as they listened to the sound of Sarah falling down the stairs; thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thumpa thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-THUD. Then they heard a groan and Sarah say distantly "Careful, there're stairs." No one commented on the irony and pointlessness of Sarah's comment.

Holly went next, carefully taking the steps one at a time, her hands trailing along the walls on either side of her. She went along fine until she misjudged how far she'd come and, thinking she'd reached the bottom, put her foot out too far in front of her. It passed through air, soon followed by the rest of Holly's body. She tumbled down the last few steps, landing slightly painfully on something soft.

She called up to Trouble and Sebastian. "OK, you can come down. I fell down a few stairs, but I landed on something soft."

Sarah's muffled voice said "That would be me." Holly quickly rolled over, started to sit up and whacked her head on what felt like a ceiling six inches off the floor. There was a _crack_ and she crumpled to the floor, out like a light.

Trouble reached the bottom without incident, except for the minor matter of stepping on a still-curled-up-on-the-floor Sarah. Sarah, not knowing just what the hell had just (by the feel of it) broken her arm, reacted as she knew best. If you have ever stepped on a cat, you will believe me when I say it was not at all pleasant, for even though Sarah had no claws, she could use her elbows for _very_ lethal purposes. I shall say no more, except that in about 0.375 seconds, Trouble was on the floor, groaning and clutching his sides.

Back up the stairs and outside the door, Sebastian sighed and dug in his bag. He rummaged around for a few moments under the inquisitive gaze of Casper. He triumphantly pulled out a small glow cube, which he turned on and held out in front of him, then advanced down the stairs, Casper flapping his way after him. He stopped on the second-last stair, then held the glowing cube further out in front of him. The light shone over three elves, curled up on the floor.

Trouble appeared to be nursing several very painful ribs, Sarah was cradling an arm and glaring at Trouble and Holly was lying with her head and shoulders under a bench against the wall. Sebastian sighed. He noticed a switch on the wall to his right and he hit it. Lights flickered to life all along the stairs and around him, revealing that they were standing (well, mostly lying) in a narrow hallway that carried on in front of them for about six feet, then abruptly turned to the left.

Sebastian looked at his fallen comrades and rolled his eyes, resigning himself to the role of temporary medic. First, though, he ran back up to the door and shut it. After a moment's thought, he dragged across one of the dead bolts on the door frame, effectively locking the door behind them. He carefully descended the stairs again.

He took hold of Holly's feet and pulled her out from under the bench. He grabbed her shoulders and hauled her upright, then sat her down in the bench, leaning her against the wall. He looked more closely at Holly and found to his dismay that she was unconscious, most likely concussed. He swore, then muttered "What a team we all make. Apparently it is impossible for all four of us to be conscious at the same time. What luck."

He turned to the other two and carefully dragged Trouble over to the wall and leant him against it, careful not to disturb any ribs. He shook his head and muttered "We're in more danger from each other than from the people after us." He walked over to Sarah and gingerly pulled her to her feet, avoiding touching her arm. Sarah sat down on the bench next to the unconscious Holly.

Casper's gaze travelled over the four of them. He shook his head, then said "Come on, do not stop here." Trouble stood, seeming fine, except for the slight wince as he straightened. He turned to Sarah and apologized, then pulled her to her feet.

Trouble turned to Sebastian and grinned at him. "I lugged you when you were unconscious, I'm not carrying another comatose person. You can take Holly." Sebastian sighed, but draped one of Holly's arms around his shoulders and stood up, taking her with him. Her head lolled. Sebastian frowned, thinking that this was the last thing they needed. Hopefully, Holly wouldn't be out for too long.

Slowly, he walked after Trouble and Sarah, who were standing, waiting for him, at the corner where the hall turned. Casper was sitting on Sarah's shoulder, being stroked by a Sarah who had obviously forgotten about being stepped on. Sebastian contemplated the idea of Sarah being partly goldfish. That would explain her bizarre memory, which wasn't so much forgetful as non-existent. He grinned at the thought and shifted Holly's weight against him. Trouble gave him an odd look, but turned and walked ahead anyway.

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Liaranne: Thanks for pointing that out. I'd have missed it otherwise. I've read some Discworld books. Excellent stuff. Terry Pratchett is either a god or should be.**

Mage Kitty: No typos again. I feel good xD Yup, green. You better update soon. I have, now you hurry up and update or I'll just quit this story altogether and work on the sequel.

**Mad Sam: Sebastian definitely is lazy. I agree with your observation and commend you for it. I always write him as the tough one, then I got a bit fed up and decided that he'd change with the journey. Dum dum dum.**

**A Reviewer Person: Thanks :) Ack, the lack of humorness has been annoying me too and I'm trying to put some in, but whenever I force jokes they turn out really badly :( **

**REVIEW!!!**


	19. A Test Of Sorts

**A/N REPOSTED CHAPPIE. OK, I have just realized how seriously messed up my chapter numbering is. I'm gonna change it after I post this one. So if this website throws a hissy fit and won't show this fic, that's why. Next item on list. **

**I HAVE 75 REVIEWS!!!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! Several people have mentioned that the story has been lacking in the humour department as of late. My reply is: It's very hard to be funny when you're sick and even more depressed than usual (I am an eternal pessimist). BUT, because you are all so nice, I have gone back over what I've written and am in the process of humor-ifying it. So I apologize, but the next update might come a bit later than usual.**

**Also, in this chapter, the bit with the globes might seem boring, but it is IMPORTANT. So, sorry, but it must stay. REMEMBER that. **

**Note to Liaranne: NOW I fixed it. Dunno what went wrong before. **

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 

_Trouble gave him an odd look, but turned and walked ahead anyway._

Trouble turned the corner and saw that ahead the hall sloped downwards and turned to the right. He looked at Sarah, with Caser still perched on her shoulder, who shrugged and started walking down the hall. Trouble followed her, after checking to see that Sebastian was keeping up with them.

After fifteen minutes of the hall twisting and turning this way and that, sloping up, then down, then up again, Sarah was getting fed up. She asked Casper in an exasperated voice "Is it much farther? And why is this hallway so damn _long_?"

Casper chirped away for a bit, while Trouble nodded. Then Trouble said to Sarah "It's so long so it'll give whoever's living here a chance to get out or get down here if someone's coming in who shouldn't be. It's just going around in circles, but it's the only way in. We should end up right above where we started from. And it's not much further. Just another few bends."

"It _better_ be." Sarah replied pointedly, her hand gravitating to her backpack by some sort of weird magnetism to her frying pans. Trouble hastily nodded and sped up.

Sebastian, a ways behind them, overheard this and thanked anyone who might be watching over/protecting them .Even though that someone was severely slacking in his/her/its job. Holly seemed to be getting heavier with each step he took. He made a mental note to thank Trouble profusely for carrying _him_ before. He winced and shifted Holly again, who moaned in her induced sleep. He froze, hoping he hadn't hurt her. But she just moved a bit, then was quiet again.

He sighed and kept walking. Up ahead, he saw that Trouble, Sarah and Casper had turned another corner. He frowned as he realized something was amiss. Then it hit him. He couldn't hear their footsteps. He sped up, even though he knew they weren't in trouble, because his sixth sense wasn't going off (for which he was very thankful). He turned the corner and found Sarah and Trouble staring at a very sturdy looking door in front of them, cutting off the hallway.

Casper was jabbering away derisively, but Trouble and Sarah were paying him no attention. Trouble stepped forwards and pushed at the door. It didn't budge. Casper hissed "The key, you fool."

"I don't _have_ a key." Trouble said, confused. He asked Sarah if she did, but she shook her head.

Casper sighed and said slowly "Use. The. Key. For. _This_. Door. Find. It. It. Is. Around. Here. Somewhere. Good grief, you can be stupid sometimes." 

Sarah looked at him and asked sweetly "Sorry, could you repeat that? I couldn't hear anything over the whining." Trouble rolled his eyes and told Sarah to help him look for a key. She grinned wickedly and Casper, then turned away and nodded. 

They both looked around them. There was a long table against the wall to their right. Sitting on it were about four dozen vases of miscellaneous size, shape and style and a large stone globe. Although it was difficult to tell, since all these objects were covered in what seemed like a foot of dust.

Trouble sighed and resigned himself to checking each and every vase. He picked up the nearest vase and upended it, but nothing fell out onto the table except a veritable _colony_ of insects. As Trouble frantically swept the insects back into the vase, Sarah pulled the large stone carving of the world towards her. She buffed it with her sleeve, sending up a fog of dust that made Trouble cough so much Casper inquired politely as to whether he was still alive.

Sarah ignored this and examined the stone sphere, on the opposite end of the table as Trouble. It was just a globe, albeit one that would break your foot if you dropped it. She peered closer. It _looked_ normal, with the Mud Man divisions they called, what was it, countries all shown and labelled. It showed seas and oceans, deserts and mountain chains. Unlike Mud Man globes, however, it also showed the largest fairy outposts above ground.

One on an island a bit north of the Bahamas (that did magical experiments, which couldn't be done below ground for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, this outflow of magic had odd repercussions, mostly involving humans who were travelling near the island forgetting who they were and wandering off to a port on the other side of the world, to be given up for dead by the rest of the human world. Strangely enough, the humans for once acknowledged this oddity and the area around the island was nicknamed the Bermuda Triangle), one in eastern Russia, three in Australia (huge amounts of empty space _there_, fairies took advantage of that) and two more in Canada (another largely empty place and the people there didn't so much ignore magic as not mind it. Odd people, Canadians).

Sarah looked even closer. The Tropics were there, lines gouged into the stone. The Equator was another deep line. She was about to go help Trouble when, on a hunch, she dug her nails into the crack that represented the Equator and tried to prise the globe open, hoping she wouldn't break her fingers off or something equally messy. But sure enough, the top half came away from the bottom in her hands. Sarah almost dropped the top half in surprise, but caught it just in time.

Trouble couldn't see Sarah, on account of the dust cloud surrounding her, but he heard the _oooof_  she made when she caught the top half. He tried to peer through the fog surrounding Sarah, but gave up and went back to searching through the vases.

Sarah set the Northern Hemisphere down on the table with a thump and looked at what she'd just discovered. She pulled it out and set it on the table, pushing the two halves of the first globe away. It was another stone globe, smaller this time. This one was engraved with the world much as it looks in the present day, except it seemed to be showing the world around the time of the Renaissance, for the Mud Man countries' borders were very different. There were fairy outposts shown on this one too, though they were in places that were nowadays occupied by Mud Men. Most of North America, for one example.

Guessing what she had to do next, she opened this one at the Equator as well. She sighed as she pulled out yet another globe, this one even smaller, though still big and heavy enough to break a few toes. The third globe showed the Earth as it must have been in prehistoric times, as there were no countries marked, and the continents were slightly different than modern day. Her heart gave a pang as she traced some lines with her fingers. The fairy borders. This globe was set when fairies and humans had shared the Earth.

She shook her head to clear it of her daydreams and prised _this_ one open, dreading what she would find, but knowing what it would be anyway. Sure enough, another globe was inside this one. She pulled it out resignedly. Now there were six halves and one whole globe sitting on the desk. They were starting to spill over onto the part of the table near Trouble. She wondered briefly when he'd notice, but stopped thinking about it since she didn't really care.

She turned her attention back to the fourth globe, then frowned. This one was set when the continents were as they were now, but the only things shown were natural features. Mountains, lakes, oceans, deserts. Her frown deepened as she tried to work out what this globe was trying to show. Her eyes lit on a character carved into the globe, in the northern half of it. She recognized it as Ancient Gnommish for "ghost". Odd, she thought. Unconsciously, she tapped her fingers on the handle of the frying pan, looking for all the world as if she was deciding just where to hit someone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sebastian was standing a little way off, still supporting Holly. He was getting tired, so he gently placed her on the floor and sat down beside her, deciding that Trouble and Sarah wouldn't exactly want him over there helping. It was looking a bit crowded anyway. Trouble was getting irritable and he wasn't even a quarter of the way through the vases. Sarah seemed it be taking apart the stone globe and it had turned out to be like one of those things Mud Men called "Russian dolls". Casper was perched on the end of the table furthest from Trouble and Sarah and was watching them.

He gave Holly a half-hearted poke, but she didn't react at all. He frowned and checked her pulse, but it was fine, if a little slow. He leaned back against the wall and his gaze slid out of focus as he thought about how far they'd come already. Not that far, admittedly, but it was a lot farther than he'd thought they'd get. He sighed and leaned his head against the wall.

I'll be brain-dead from the boredom soon, he mused thoughtfully. He didn't want to go over and help the other two, not with Trouble in such a bad mood and Sarah looking ready to pounce with her frying pan. So he merely sat and waited, the only sound being Trouble's swearing and Sarah tapping her frying pan.****

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Mage Kitty: I'm not gonna ditch it. It needs an ending anyway. No typos ^^ And it seems to be that none of the four can be conscious at the same time. But never fear, I will get over this violent stage I'm going through. If I could, I'd be killing off characters, but since I only have a few and I need them all, I can't. But why am I telling you this, because no one gives a flying banana anyway?**

**Albinoblacksheep007: I like your name xD Thanks for taking the time to review. I must confess I was much the same as you. I read fan fiction for about a year before I started reviewing. * Cringes * . But now I'm an author * feels very proud to say that * and I know how wonderful reviews are. So anyway, I'm rambling. Thanks again.**

**Liaranne: I realize I should have told you this before, but I like your name too. Back to the subject. Which is . . . * goes and reads your review again, comes back smiling *  Annoying about my stupidness with the chapters, thanks for pointing it out. Don't expect two chapters together anymore, sorry :) Though I may post two together if I don't update for ages. Though I intend to update. So, yeah. Thanks for the review.**

**Mad Sam: Casper definitely does have wit. I was kinda worried about his character turning out all male Mary-Sue-ish, until it was kindly pointed out to me that a) he gets really annoying in the chapters I haven't posted yet and b) he's a sodding BIRD. **

**Tide: Question: What's a pixie stick? See author's note above for info re: lack of humour. Tell me if this one's funnier.**

**Charliegirl2: I have NO idea where the frying pan idea came from, it just appeared, though I'm glad you like it. You like the interaction between the four? Really? Hmm, I always thought it was kinda blah in that part. Oh well. The bit in your review where you said why you wanted to giggle hysterically made me grin maniacally. Which would be fine if I hadn't been in school at the time, supposed to be doing Maths research. So now the whole class thinks I'm a freak who enjoys Maths. Though they think I'm a freak anyway, since I spend all of Maths class reading Terry Pratchett, Tamora Pierce, Eoin Colfer, etc and I have gotten A+'s for the past year. Anyways, I'm rambling. Tanks for the review, made my day.**

**REVIEW, PEOPLE!!!!! See if you can guess what the globe Sarah is trying to figure out shows. Come on, people, think!**


	20. Traces From Before

**A/N I'M BACK! Sorry for the long delay, I can explain. Well, we had a painter in, painting our halls, and so my da decided that he'd unplug the computer and hide it somewhere for the week. So, no computer and total chaos in the house, since my mother's in Canada for my aunt's operation and there're five men outside, digging up our garden to put down klinkers. What's in word in English? Cobbles? Pavestones? Something like that, can't remember. So anyway, I'm back and I'm on HOLIDAY!!! Two whole weeks. ^-^ **

**Oh yes, no one guessed what the last globe means. Though maria (previously known as "a reviewer person") did guess about the key. **

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

Sarah frowned again as she tried to make sense of the fourth globe. Suddenly, she hit on an idea and pulled the Northern Hemisphere of the very first globe towards her, the one showing the present day. She compared the two and realized that the "ghost" was situated in southern Mongolia. Right where they were. Her mind raced. What was it that Casper had said? _"Among my kind, it is known as the Kobalt, which means "evil spirit"._

Ghost . . . evil spirit . . . the Kobalt! Her heart thumped as she realized what this map was trying to show, only no one had had the sense to open it before, never mind try to read it. It showed Tarlang's trail. His house, here, a trail back a little way south-west, to the plateau, she assumed and then further south-west, until it reached a lake and turned until it was heading west, then continued on. . .

She let out a yell of triumph and hefted the globe, running over to Trouble and Casper with it. Trouble looked up, saw Sarah bearing down on him with a stone globe in her hands and jumped out of the way, fearing for his life. She stopped right on front of him, though, then triumphantly plonked the globe down on the table.

Trouble looked at it cautiously, still afraid she would try to club him with it, then asked tentatively "What about it?"

Sarah was too excited to heave a sigh or roll her eyes, she just put her finger on the spot where the Kobalt was and explained hurriedly what the map showed. Casper jumped over and examined it while perched on Trouble's shoulder.

"This is an excellent development, but we still to get inside the main part of the house. Keep looking for the key." And with that he jumped away again, leaving a disappointed Trouble to translate for Sarah and continue searching the vases. Sarah picked up the globe and walked back over to the rest of the globes.

After a moment's thought, she tried to prise apart the fourth globe (the one with Tarlang's path on it) and to her surprise, it came apart too. She carefully set aside the top half form the rest of the pieces and lifted out the fifth globe. It had the outlines of the continents and the oceans, the Tropics and the Equator, but that was all. The rest was totally blank. She frowned and turned it upside down, to look at the flat base. Inscribed in it was "Now it's your turn" She grinned. They were supposed to engrave _their_ path on it when they were finished their quest. If they finished it.

She was about to put it back into the fourth globe, but had second thoughts and tried to prise the fifth (blank) one open. To her dismay, it opened. Then she saw that there was no globe inside and peered into the hollow bottom half. A key lay inside. She grinned and plucked it out, then closed the blank globe and put it back inside Tarlang's. She put Tarlang's globe (and the blank one inside it) into her bag, which she had secretly fitted with a device from a Moonbelt a few years ago, when she had realized that school text books get heavier every year you advance in school.

She reassembled the rest of the globes and walked over to Trouble. She nonchalantly threw him the key when he looked up, then turned to Sebastian, only to find he was asleep. She actually hesitated before deciding to wake him. He looked so peaceful. Makes a nice change, she thought idly. And Frond knew how grumpy he could be when he was awake. But she woke him up nonetheless. He was silent as she explained developments, then stood up and took Holly without a complaint.

Sarah watched in amazement. Must still be half-asleep, she decided. The Sebastian _she_ knew was as grumpy as _hell_ after waking up. She shrugged and turned to Trouble, who was unlocking the door with Casper on his shoulder, giving directions.

She thought of something and wondered out loud "No one's opened the globes before. So how did they get the key and get in the door?"

"There was another key that was hidden somewhere else. In a vase, I presume. The last descendant to some here supposedly took it with him. I had hoped he had not, as I did not know whether there was another key." Casper replied. The three conscious teenagers exchanged uneasy glances, all wondering how much they could trust such a nonchalant Casper, especially when their lives were concerned.

Sebastian came over, supporting Holly, and remarked "Can we go now?" Trouble turned the key in the lock. Then he turned the handle and pulled. Nothing happened. Trouble swore, but Sebastian said "Most doors in buildings that need to be protected open inwards so that they can be barricaded from the inside by the occupants if necessary."

"What?" Trouble asked, confused.

Sebastian sighed. "Push." Trouble blushed and pushed the door. It opened noiselessly.

Sarah looked at Trouble and remarked "You _know_ I'm never going to let you forget that." Trouble coloured again and mumbled something under his breath, then strode forwards, head down, onto a set of stairs going up. He stumbled on them, but regained his balance and hit the light switch on the wall. More lights flickered into life along the staircase. Sebastian groaned when he saw the stairs.

Trouble grinned, happy that he'd had it easier when he was carrying Sebastian. He'd had wings to do the moving _for_ him, he just had to hold Sebastian. Trouble started up the stairs, followed by Sarah with Casper on her shoulder, then Sebastian, who shut the door behind him before starting up the stairs with Holly.

Trouble reached the top of the staircase and cautiously pushed open the door in wall to the left of him. He stepped inside and heard a _twaaang_ noise that sounded oddly familiar. He remembered what made that noise after a split second and threw himself to the floor. Something made a thudding noise above  and behind him. He hoped it wasn't Sarah. He cautiously rolled over and looked up. Sarah was standing in the doorway, staring, transfixed, at the crossbow bolt that had embedded itself in the wall right in front of her.

She shook her head and pulled Trouble upright. He glared at Casper and exclaimed "You said there'd be no traps!"

Casper shrugged and replied "I said that there _shouldn't_ be any traps, not that there _wouldn't_ be any." Trouble contemplated shifting into a wolf and ripping out Casper's throat for being so damn condescending, but decided against it. Too messy.

So Trouble just growled something I shall not repeat, turned and walked further into the bare room. There was nothing there, save another door at the far end of the small room and a small table with a crossbow propped on it. He strode forwards and examined it, wondering how it had been rigged.

Sarah stepped up behind him and declared "There's magic about it. I can feel it. Spelled to fire if the door opens, maybe. Only one shot, though. Lucky for us." Trouble nodded, then walked over to the door, opened it, and cautiously entered the next room.

Sebastian, who'd been standing behind Sarah, waited until they were all three in the next room and out of sight, then pulled the crossbow bolt out of the doorframe and pocketed it. Make a good weapon if I ever need it, he thought. He entered the next room and gave a sigh of relief. It was a large, airy kitchen, with windows that Sarah was opening. They give a nice view of the opposite rock wall of the gorge, Sebastian thought dryly.

Trouble was looking through the cupboards and Casper was perched on the back of a chair at the large wooden table in the centre of the room. Sebastian walked forwards and put Holly down in a chair, then sat down beside her and put his head down on the table.

Sarah came over and said brightly "It's 1:00 am." Sebastian groaned and buried his head in his folded arms. Sarah grinned and said cheerfully "If we save the world, you'll have all the time you want to sleep. Cheer up, Seb."

Sebastian raised his head and said in a menacing voice "Do _not_ call me Seb. _Ever_. Clear?"

"As mud." Sarah replied happily.

Sebastian fixed her with a glare and said irritably "_Why_ do you have to be so insufferably cheerful?"

She shrugged. "Must be my genes."

"In that case, never have children."

Trouble sat down at that moment, cutting off Sarah's reply (which was probably a _good_ thing) and said "I think we should all get some sleep and in the morning we can look for the books. Then, I dunno, we'll decide what to do."

"We need to leave. Time is running out. We have no idea how close the enemy is to finding the Pendant." Casper interjected. The others nodded gloomily. It looked like it would have to be a very short respite.

As it turned out, Casper had only been in the house once before, so they resignedly set out to try and find some bedrooms in the enormous maze that was the Kobalt. After twenty minutes, they had done nothing except get themselves lost.

Ten minutes after that, they stopped in a hall that looked vaguely familiar, then Sebastian lost it. He set Holly down under a window, and said in an exasperated voice "I'm going to shift.". Sarah and Trouble watched with interest. They hadn't seen Sebastian shift before. Sebastian's outline against the window melted into that of a large dog.

Sarah blinked and when she opened her eyes again, a large black dog was standing where Sebastian had been. He pressed its nose to the ground and walked forwards, sniffing. He looked up at the others and jerked his head in the direction he was going.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sebastian closed his eyes and pictured a shape he took often; a large black dog. Within a second, the flowing feeling had passed and he opened his eyes. He found it easier to shift to certain shapes with his eyes closed. Dogs and cats for one. Their eyesight was so much better than his that it was painful at first when everything suddenly became fifty times sharper.

He sniffed the air. After so many years as a shape shifter, he was much more adept than Trouble at using animals' skills. His sense of smell, for example. Now, after fifty odd years, it was enhanced even in his elf shape.

He pressed his nose to the ground and concentrated. Bedrooms. That meant beds, which meant sturdy wood and lots of linen. He knew that no one had been in here for hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years, but the plus side of it was that the smells that remained wouldn't be disturbed. Someone walking through the cloud of a scent dispersed it and mixed it in with theirs, leaving a trail of _both_ behind them. Very annoying, but he had learned to work with that.

He inhaled deeply. Trouble, a nervous and exhausted cloud behind him. Sarah, bored and bone-weary, though she wouldn't admit it, to Trouble's left. Casper, half-asleep on her shoulder. He frowned as he smelled the fear deep in Casper, then returned to his task. Holly, unconscious, leaning against the wall behind Sebastian, glad of her respite, painful as it may be. All their trails mixed up and surrounding him, going this way and that. There was nothing else. He glared at the invisible smells and forced his brain to dig deeper, past the new smells to the thousand-year old ones. Suddenly, he became dizzy.

He forced himself to shift back to elf shape. His vision blurred and he staggered, then grabbed hold of the windowsill to steady himself. His fingers fumbled with the window catch, then he hauled the window open and practically threw himself out of it, gulping huge lungfuls of the comparatively clean air in the gorge outside.

Sarah and Trouble looked in confusion at Casper, who said "I think he strained himself too hard. He's trying to smell things from hundreds of years ago. That's hard, even for a shape shifter."

"I'll try." Trouble volunteered. Casper shook his head.

"You haven't been a shape shifter long enough. You're not as strong right now." Casper replied. Trouble nodded, a little disappointed, but just then Sebastian pulled his head back in from outside the window.

He gasped "You lot . . . too strong . . . back off for a bit please. . ."

Casper nodded and told Trouble "The scent of us is too strong. It would be hard to smell what he's trying to even if there was no one else around. Come on, then, back up." Trouble translated for Sarah, who nodded, grabbed Holly and dragged her down the hall a bit, then sat down beside her. Trouble and Casper joined her.

Sebastian took another deep breath and shifted back into dog shape. He pressed his nose to the ground once more and closed his eyes. Yes, it was there, buried just deep enough so that he could smell it, but not clearly. He strained his brain, walking up and down the hall. Suddenly, he had it. Dusty linen, pine resin, candle wax, all together. He couldn't break his concentration for a second, not even to indicate to the others he had it.

He set off down the hall. Dimly, he heard the others scrambling to get up and after him. He followed the scent, twisting and turning around corners, aware that it was growing stronger. He stopped suddenly in front of a door. This was it. He stood on his hind legs and opened the door with his paws (after many dubious escapades on the street, he was quite adept at this particular trick). He sniffed the inside of the room and yelped, rearing back.

It flowed out of the room, surrounding him, enveloping him. It was the one smell that all shape shifters hate. The smell that made them afraid, not for themselves, but for those around them. Afraid that it would make them lose the slippery control they tried to hold on to. Afraid that they would give in to the beast within them. Blood . . .

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Mad Sam: Point. About the Casper/Mary Sue thing. And you made sort of sense most of the time.**

**Liaranne: I fixed the mistakes. Sorry 'bout that stuff. I was knackered and I've never studied prehistoric geography. I was going by the National Geographic Atlas that is currently sitting on my feet like an overlarge, half-ton cat, cutting off all circulation in my toes. Present from the grandparents.  Useful thing, actually. Probably saved my Geo. Grade this year.**

**Seadragon: 's fine if you didn't review before, I did the same with your story, Trojan. Forgive me. ;) About the shape-shifting thing, I knew I had to have at least one, and it couldn't be Holly (unless I was prepared to go WAY OOC) and if I only had one, there would have been too much focus on that particular character. It annoys me too, when I read and write some parts, with two of them. Seems too convenient. Still, I wrote it that wayl got no one to blame 'cept me.**

**  My violent stage has passed, but I couldn't kill off Sarah, even if I wanted to (believe me, sometimes I _really_ want to. Her and Sebastian. And Trouble sometimes. Holly's OK, though), since I need her later. And the others too. I'll just kill of Holly's da, since he dies anyway. Sarah sometimes annoys me, though I can't change her, cause she is too, I dunno, likeable, I guess. She's the funny/insane/weird one and does seem kinda perfect sometimes. Dunno how I'll change that. Hmm. Could kill off one of her relatives, sober her up a bit.**

**  This is now officially the longest review response I've ever done. Thanks. :)**

**Maria: Fallen Into The Abyss also likes frying pans and talking in third person, but doesn't do it a lot because she think sit makes her sound scarily like Dobby (evil little bugger that he is). AHA! You guessed about the key in the globe! Very good. Give this girl a cookie and send her on to round two!**

**Adia Starr: Read the rest of the chappies. _They're_ long. Think I sent you an e-mail anyway. Can't remember if you replied. Never mind.**

**Darklight Ascendant: I like your name. Damn about the Neutrino thing. I did that later on too. Thanks for pointing it out. I laughed so hard when you told me it was a Gary-Stu. Good name. Read the rest of the story and tell me what Sebastian turns out like. OK, so lying isn't an emotion. But you do feel a particular emotion when you lie. Mix of guilt (unless you have no shame), fear )that you'll be caught and a bunch of other stuff (I'm no shrink, can't be bothered to list the rest). Nyah ;)**

**  There weren't any flares (did I forget to mention that? Damn it if I did), so they just kept falling, and the core winds weren't powerful enough to take them up. And don't shuttles get a boost from flares, then go on engines alone? (I'm going by Arctic Incident). **

**  Sorry, wrong about sphere 4. But good guess. Interesting idea. Thanks for the compliments and all the stuff you pointed out. Have you ever considered being a beta? You'd be good at that.**

**Alex: Thanks. Uh, I dunno what else to say. Glad you liked it though.**

**Alixi: Nice name. I like caffeine too. ^-^. Yup, the frying pans are a hit with most people. Can't imagine why . . . **

**Mirkwoodmage: Thank you. Did you read ALL of it? In one sitting? Phew. Fair job if you did. How many times did you fall asleep?**


	21. Different Lives

**            A/N I'm back! Sorry for the delay, it seems that the lost sleep of my entire life has caught up with me. Seriously, I've done nothing but sleep. Anyway, here's a chapter, sorry for the wait.**

CHAPTER TWENTY 

_Blood . . ._

Sebastian threw himself backwards and shifted, not caring what he turned into. Trouble, with Casper on his shoulder, and Sarah, with Holly, turned the corner to find a large panther curled up and growling at the door across from him. Casper flew over to Sebastian and tried to peck him, but a paw with razor sharp claws flew at him.

Casper screeched and jumped out of the way as he realized what must have happened. He squawked at Trouble, who frowned, not understanding. Sarah put Holly down and grabbed the panther's shoulder. He moved to bite her, then slapped himself across the face with his paw. Unfortunately, the paw, as mentioned before, had razor sharp claws.

Several red lines appeared on his cheek, then they started dripping blood. Sebastian was frantic by now. Trouble had foolishly opened the door to see what was inside and the smell was driving Sebastian mad. Whatever was in there must've been bled _dry_. He shied away from Sarah's outstretched hand, growling. He slid sideways down the hall, until his shoulder hit something.

"Sebastian? You're bleeding. And why're you growling?" Holly's sleepy voice prodded the human part of his brain. The insane animal part growled louder as Holly reached her hand towards him. He could smell Sarah advancing behind him. He was trapped, the animal part thought fearfully. Holly's hand was right in front of him now. The animal part stiffened itself for the blow it was expecting, but froze in shock as Holly brushed the blood off his cheek with her hand, wiped it on the floor, yawned and went back to sleep.

Sarah took advantage of the pause to grab Sebastian by the back of the neck and turned him around so she was looking in his eyes. There was surprise there, but there was still the animal looking back at her, not Sebastian.

"Sebastian, it's _me_. Seb! Wake up!" The skin on her hand prickled, and suddenly a confused looking Sebastian was in her grip. She didn't let go of the back of his neck, but hauled him upright and half-dragged him to the window, flinging it open and draping Sebastian over the windowsill, leaving him to gulp down the clean, and above all _bloodless_, air outside.

Trouble was hopelessly confused. That's a _good_ sign, thought Sarah. Means he's not affected by blood like Sebastian is. _Yet_. She shuddered, then checked if Holly was OK. Amazingly, she was fast asleep. When she wakes up, I'll have to tell her what she did. See if it freaks her out, Sarah thought.

Casper landed on her shoulder and jabbered. Trouble found his voice and said "He says you have to explain to me what just happened."

Sarah nodded. "Like I told you, we have a BIG library at home, ancient books, all of them. Dunno where they came from, actually and Grandma won't tell me. So I know a bit about shape shifters. They can't _stand_ the smell of blood. Most learn to deal with it, in both forms, animal and fairy. It's because they're part animal." Trouble made a derisive noise, but Sarah just glared at him.

"You _are_. Ask Sebastian. Why do you think they're not all that liked? Anyway, blood drives them crazy, because, like you know, animals are carnivores and they crave meat. There're a few stories of shape shifters in lion form or whatnot, losing control and eating another animal, or even worse, a human. I don't think there's ever been one where a fairy has died. There've been mauling, of course." Sarah said all this in a business-like tone, making Trouble feel even worse. His head was spinning. Why hadn't Sebastian _told_ him he was dangerous? Great, another wonderful development.

Sarah noticed the look on his face and said "Look, it's not that bad. You've got as much chance eating someone when you're in animal form than when you're in fairy form. As in, there's more chance of you turning cannibal than you losing control when you're shifting. That's not much chance at all. Most shape shifters live perfectly normal lives. You'd be surprised how many you know, but don't know that they're shape shifters."

Casper landed on his shoulder and said quietly "She's right. It just means a little extra caution on your part. That's all. And Sarah and Holly are here. They won't let anything happen."

Trouble turned to look at Sebastian, who was pulling his head in from the window. Trouble couldn't help himself. He yelled at Sebastian "Why didn't you _tell_ me?!?!"

Sebastian leaned against the window, letting the slight breeze play over his face. It had been a long time since he'd lost control like that. Dimly, he heard Trouble yell something. He didn't trust himself to reply just yet. His temper was near breaking point right now. He heard footsteps and his nose (always more sensitive just after a shifting) told him it was Trouble. He felt something grab his arm and his eyes flew open.

Trouble strode over and grabbed Sebastian's arm. He let go the second Sebastian opened his eyes and snarled. _Snarled_ at him. He jumped backwards, then remembered that was why he was mad at Sebastian in the first place and said "_Why_ didn't you tell me?"

Sebastian said in an exasperated voice "Can we discuss this in the morning? We all need sleep. Besides, it's nothing you don't already know."

"No! I want to make sure I won't _eat_ someone in the middle of the night!" Trouble shouted.

"You _won't_! Not unless you _want_ to! And I can only hope you don't!" Sebastian yelled back. Trouble stared in horror at Sebastian. His canines had lengthened, making Sebastian look for all the world like a vampire. Sebastian noticed his stare and closed his eyes. His teeth returned to normal size.

He sighed and snapped "_Fine_. But then we go." Trouble nodded and Sarah looked interested, not knowing much about what Sebastian and Trouble were arguing about. Sebastian was silent for a minute before abruptly starting.

"Shape shifters are part animal. That's all there is to it. Animals are carnivores and have no problem with blood or meat. In consequence, a lot of shape shifters don't either. They can _look_ at it without getting squeamish, unlike a lot of other fairies. _Smelling_ it is different. There are many stories of shape shifters losing control." He stopped and sighed, then continued.

"Deep down, we all _want_ to lose control. It's just the animal part. It'll disgust you at first how a part of you will drool when you watch a gory movie. You'll get used to it. It won't bother you after a while."

"But I don't _want_ to eat meat or drink blood!" Trouble burst out.

"It's not about not wanting to, it's about wanting to and not doing it." Sebastian replied. He yawned and said "Look, you're harmless, all right? You're only a danger to people if you want to eat them when you're in fairy form. And hopefully that will never occur."

Trouble nodded and was silent. Sebastian yawned again. Casper ignored this and flew over to the door to the room that had caused all the trouble. He landed on the door handle and was peering inside when a _thwaaaang_-THUD made him turn around.

Sebastian was sitting slumped against the wall, gingerly rubbing his head. Sarah was standing over him, trying to stop the arm holding the frying pan from vibrating.

Sarah said cheerfully to Sebastian "Just to make sure that you won't shift." Then she looked at the frying pan in her hand and said in a nostalgic voice "Been a while since I used this." The manic gleam that had been missing from her eyes for the last returned in full force.

Casper sighed to hide his amusement, then turned back to the room. It was pitch black inside and since Casper had lost his night vision in the brightly-lit halls, he couldn't see what was in the room. He tore his eyes away from the dark interior of the room and said "We'll return here tomorrow to see what's inside. Now, we must find the bedrooms so you can sleep."

Sebastian looked up and said "There in there. Well, one of them is. I followed the scent to that room." Sarah stepped forwards and shook Holly awake. Holly blinked sleepily at her.

Sarah told her "I'm going into that room with Casper to check it out. You mind Trouble and Sebastian, OK? If they start to shift, hit them. No, seriously. It'll save their lives. Or a limb, at least. Want a frying pan?"

"Nah, I can just use my fists." Holly replied bemusedly. Sebastian slid down the hall, putting Holly in between himself and the door. Trouble sat on Holly's other side.

Sarah strode over to the door, cradling the frying pan in the crook of her arm as she rummaged in her pockets for something. She pulled out a small glow cube like Sebastian's and tuned it on. Casper perched himself on her shoulder. Sarah held the cube out in front of her, took firm hold of the frying pan and advanced into the room. The light slid over the room as she walked further into it. She held the cube above her head and her jaw dropped.

"D'Arvit." she breathed, then ran outside before the stench made her throw up, Casper flying beside her. Holly looked up in surprise as Sarah flew past and launched herself at the window.

 "Lucky there's so many windows in here, they're getting good use." Holly remarked.

Sarah inhaled deeply several times before gasping "There's a dead body in there. _Very_ dead. Smells like . . . I dunno what, but it smells _bad_."

Holly stood up, took the glow cube from her unresisting hands and walked into the room. The others waited for a moment, then Holly's voice drifted out to them. "Gross. I can see the body, but I can't smell anything. Musta lost my sense of smell when I was knocked out" **(A/N Has this happened to anyone other than me? Last two times I was knocked unconscious, when I woke up, I'd lost my sense of smell. Got it back after a day or so. Maybe it _was_ just me. Anyway.)** There was a pause. "Weeeird." She walked out, slightly pale. Half-rotted bodies tend to do that to some people.

"What is it?" Trouble wanted to know.

"Dead body." repeated Sarah.

"Dead from what?"

"I'm guessing severe lack of blood, judging by how much is on the floor around it. Surprised you can't smell it from here, being a shape shifter and all."

"His senses will heighten over time." Casper interjected. Trouble translated.

"I think it looked like sword wounds." Holly commented, bringing the conversation back to the body.

"How'd you know that?" asked Trouble suspiciously.

"There was a sword beside him." replied Holly with a shrug. "At least, I'm pretty sure it's a him." she added after a moment's thought.

"Suicide, maybe." Trouble mused to himself.

"Can we do the detective work _tomorrow_?" They all jumped at the sound of Sebastian's voice. He'd been so quiet, they'd almost forgotten he was there. Holly nodded and went back into the room, Casper flying after her.

She held the glow cube up, letting the frail light slide over the room, trying to ignore the half-rotted corpse, which was halfway to being a skeleton, surrounded by dried blood staining the stone floor beneath it. She noticed a door at the other end of the bare room, which held nothing else except a wooden table and chair.

She walked over to stand in front of the door, took a deep breath and pushed it open, revealing a bright, airy room with a number of windows. It was, surprise, surprise, a large bedroom, with two single beds on either side of the room, a double bed in the middle  and a bunk bed against the far wall.

She grabbed a sheet lying folded on the floor beside a bed and took it out to the body, covering it. Casper squawked approvingly (she thought). Then she called the others in. Sarah ran past the body, now covered, took in the bedroom and sat down gingerly on a bed. When it didn't explode, shoot something or make any odd noises, she lay down with a sigh.

Trouble came next, under Casper's bright gaze. He wrinkled his nose at the horrific smell, even though Holly had opened the only window in the room. He felt nothing more than an odd tingling at the back of his throat, so, relieved, he walked into the bedroom. Sarah was lying, half-asleep, on one of the single beds. He decided to take the top bunk, after taking off the top sheet, which was covered in a few centuries of dust.

Holly waited for Sebastian to come, but he didn't. She sighed and went out to get him. He was sitting right where they'd left him, staring at the opposite wall and absent-mindedly running his fingers along the cuts on his cheek. Holly cleared her throat and he looked up.

He stood up and walked towards her, no emotion on his face, even though she knew the smell would be a hundred times worse for him, not to mention driving him crazy. Casper was sitting on the edge of the table in the room, watching them closely. Sebastian walked past the body with a grimace on his face. When he was inside the room, Holly and Casper both let out their breath, only realizing then that they'd been holding it in the first place.

Casper squawked and flapped a wing in the direction of the hall door. Holly nodded and closed it, the followed Casper into the bedroom, where the other three were already asleep, closing the door behind her.

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Liaranne: One: Really? I haven't read all of your stuff, so, sorry, I didn't know. Definitely great minds. Two: Thanks, that's what I meant. Three: Well, maybe it was because when we shifted perspective to Seba (I have a cousin called Sebastian and we call him Seba, but you understood anyway), I kind of went back over what had just happened. Did them again from his POV. If that made any sense. Thanks for the v. nice review.**

**Mad Sam: About the body, we find out next chappie. Or maybe the one after it. Anyway, I'm drawing out the suspense ;) **

**Maria: GAH! Someone found out! Must put it in my disclaimer who the names belong too. I don't have a disclaimer . . . damn! Thanks anyway, good guessing :)**


	22. Things Lost In Time

**A/N See? I updated after less than two weeks. Aren't you all proud of me?**

****

DISCLAIMER: Yes, I have finally remembered to stick this in! Now, pay attention. Ahem. I do not own any of Eoin Colfer's creations, gods know where _he_ got them. Anything you don't recognize from the Artemis Fowl books belong to me, except for the e-mail addresses used earlier, some of which belong to Mage Kitty, another belongs to aly. Yeah. So don't steal anything. Unless you ask and I say yes. But I stole things anyway. From Eoin Colfer. Still, writing is all about dishonesty. It's just trying to put your lies in the nicest package to make them seem more believable. THEY'RE ALL LIES!!! OK, I have gone way off track. ANYWAYS, you get the point. This disclaimer applies to all past, present and future chappies, so I never need to do this again! CHAPTER TWENTY ONE 

****

**Pronunciation Guide:******

**Cobh = [cove]**

Trouble opened his eyes. He blinked several times in the bright light. Forgot to close the shutters last night, he thought. He rolled over, intending to roll out of bed like he did every morning, forgetting that he was in another bed and, most importantly, the top bunk.

Sebastian, half-asleep in the bottom bunk, heard a yelp, a swoosh that sounded like something going by him very fast and a thud. He murmured sleepily something about fairies not being able to fly, too un-aerodynamic and rolled over, asleep again.

Trouble sat up, rubbing his head. Peering through the dust cloud that he'd sent up, he saw that the others were asleep, Holly and Sarah in the two single beds, Casper with his head under his wing, sitting on the double bed and Sebastian in the bottom bunk.

He looked at his watch **(A/N Can't remember if the fairies call watches something different, tell me if they do)**. 11:30 in the morning. He stood up quickly, remembering how they'd said that they'd go quickly in the morning. He moved to shake Sebastian awake, but decided to wait until he had back-up for that particular operation.

He poked Casper several times, left him grumbling sleepily to himself and shook Holly awake, quickly dodging the fist that came flying towards him. Holly yawned, opened her eyes, stood up and stretched. She shook Sarah, who groaned, but got up anyway. Casper flew over to Trouble and sat on his shoulder.

"Come out into the room with me."

"But I've got to wake-"

"The others can wake Sebastian." Casper interrupted.

Trouble shrugged and told the others, then walked out into the room with the body, trying to ignore the smell.

"Who is that?" Trouble wondered aloud.

"It is of no importance." Casper said dismissively, not knowing that he was, in fact, totally wrong. Trouble raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. Casper landed on the table, sending up even more dust. When Trouble stopped coughing, he commented "Good thing's no one's asthmatic."

Casper ignored him and said "Did you have any prophetic dreams while you slept?"

Trouble frowned "I _think_ so." Casper waited for him to elaborate, but Trouble had obviously forgotten to. Casper heaved a dramatic sigh and pecked him.

"Ouch! What?"

"The dream!"

"Oh, right. It didn't scare me like the others did, but it _was_ about Holly, Sarah, Sebastian and I and we _were_ in danger. Well, at the end, at least."

"Tell me. No, actually, tell the others at the same time. Come."

Trouble sighed, but followed him into the bedroom, where Sebastian was sitting on the floor beside his bed, glaring at an unconcerned Holly, who'd apparently just woken him up by rolling him onto the floor. Trouble sat down on the bed Sebastian had just vacated and looked at the others.

"I had a dream last night." That got them listening attentively. "I was at a lake. You guys were there too. Well, Sarah and Holly anyway. We stopped on the shore. I heard Sarah say something in a language I didn't understand. After that, it got weird. Something threw me away from the lake. Then Holly went flying as well and landed beside me.

"Sarah was still talking and there was a really loud rumbling noise. Then a bunch of black rocks flew out of the lake and landed on the shore beside Sarah. Holly and I went over and helped her look through the pile. Holly found a biggish box-shaped one, made of a shiny black stone, like the rest of the rocks. We stopped looking, sat down and waited." Trouble stopped and frowned.

"I think we were waiting for Sebastian, because he wasn't there. Then there was a lot of yelling and explosions. Sebastian came flying out of nowhere and landed in the lake. Holly took out her Neutrino and started shooting. _That_ bit was scary." The others grinned.

"Then the dream stopped. That was it." Trouble finished.

"Uh-_huh_." Sarah said. "Well, I have no idea what under the earth that means. Anyone?"

"We need to go to a lake and find a box made of a shiny black stone, that much is obvious." Holly replied. "And I'm pretty sure you did magic in Trouble's dream. Cast a spell to bring only black stones to you? Is that possible?" she wondered out loud.

They looked at Sarah, who shrugged and said "Probably."

"The shiny black stone." Sebastian said. "Did it look like that?" He pointed to the necklace Holly wore, a crescent moon made of a shiny, deep black stone.

Trouble looked at it and nodded. "Onyx." Sebastian said. Trouble, Sarah and Casper looked at him, confused. Comprehension dawned in Holly's eyes, though.

"The stone we need to find in the lake." Holly said. "It's onyx."

Sarah nodded thoughtfully. "That helps. Now we know what we're looking for. OK, we know what spell we need now. Let's go find those books on magic." Sarah turned to Trouble expectantly.

"What?" he asked suspiciously.

She rolled her eyes. "Did you dream where the books are? Or do we have to go find them?"

"Didn't dream about them." Trouble replied.

"So I guess we will have to go find them, then." Sarah said cheerfully.

"What fun." Sebastian muttered under his breath, but only Holly heard him. The corners of her mouth curled into a smile.

Sarah noticed and asked, confused "What? What did I say?"

Holly shook her head, not saying anything. Sarah stared at her, then said "O-kay then. You're probably just tired. You're still sane."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Sebastian murmured. Holly fought to control her grin. She stood up and said "OK, let's go then." They all grabbed their bags from where they'd dropped them the night before. Sebastian, however, remained where he was and reminded them that they hadn't eaten since the night before.

A bit sheepish, they sat down again and ate some of the food they'd brought along. Casper, who had flown out the open window when the fairies had sat down to eat, returned with a dead animal of indiscriminate species, which he proceeded to eat on the windowsill, so as not to put the fairies off their breakfast. As soon as she finished eating, Sarah jumped up and the time that it took the others to finish their food was spent irritably playing percussion on and with her frying pan.

When the others were finally ready, they stood up and slung their bags on their backs. All except Holly, who looked at Casper and asked "Who is it?"

Trouble settled back into his familiar role as translator. "Who?"

"The dead fairy out there."

"He says he doesn't know."

"I know you do."

"Uh . . . uh-huh. He says he does know, the story was told to him by his . . . who was it? His uncle. His uncle told it to him."

"Why won't you tell us?"

Casper seemed to grumble for a bit, but then relented. He sighed dramatically (though none of the others took any notice, he'd been doing it far too often recently) and reluctantly told the story of the body in the next room.

"He was a relative of Tarlang. His older brother, actually. Tarlang was the younger child, did you know that? The Pendant was passed to the oldest child first. Like Tarlang, the brother, whose name was Cobh,-"

"I know that name!" Sarah interrupted excitedly. "I've heard of him! Cobh Caillas, right?" Casper nodded, intrigued despite himself. Sarah turned to Sebastian for support. "Doesn't it sound familiar to you?" Sebastian nodded after a few seconds.

They all focused on him. "Well?" Holly asked expectantly.

"Cobh Caillas. I know about him, but I never knew his involvement in this. Understandably. Anyway, what I know is put in a whole different context now. It's a long story. Want it all, or just about Cobh?"

"Whole thing." The others said unanimously.

"OK then. He was part of an ancient and powerful family. What happened was that, for one reason or another, Cobh and his younger brother were two of the only three children in their generation. They had one cousin, much younger than them.

"Then, Cobh's father died. Cobh inherited everything. Just after all his father's possessions transferred to him, Cobh left, vowing never to return. No one knew why. At the same time, his brother, Tarlang as we now know him to be, had his heart broken and decided never to marry or have children. He disappeared, leaving a note saying he'd return someday, "when his wound healed".

"This left the Caillas family in a bit of trouble. The only person younger than five hundred years old now remaining was the cousin, who couldn't have been much older than us. There was now a very real danger of the family dying out. Then, after a few years, the word came that Cobh had committed suicide. Tarlang returned to inherit everything, then he too left, vowing never to return, just like Cobh.

"So they were back where they started. The older family members were starting to die off. Then a rumour reached their ears. How Cobh had lived alone, near a town far from his family. How he had had to travel into the town from time to time for food. And how he became friends with many of the people there. Including one woman in particular.

"The family followed this up, if only to learn about their son's final years. What they found wasn't certain, but apparently there was a very good chance that Cobh had married and had at least one child. They tried to find the wife and children, but shortly after Cobh died, there had been a massive earthquake, diverting the river beside the town, and forcing the inhabitants to leave.

"So again, the family was back where it started, once again. But then Tarlang returned and took his place as head of the family. He married, and had several children. As it turned out, they never really needed to worry, because the young cousin married the love of his life and had fourteen children."

"_Fourteen_? That's a lot of kids to take care of." Trouble commented, and the others murmured their agreement, breaking the spell that had surrounded Sebastian's story. Sebastian gestured to say he had more to say and they fell silent again.

"The family kept searching for Cobh's family, even hundreds of years later, just to see if he had any descendants. They knew that, had the story even been true, the family would still be above ground, even after fairies retreated below ground. They had some kind of "safe haven" that meant they could stay. So then historians took up the search.

"It become known as the search for "The Lost Cobh Clan". You see, if there are any descendants, they and their ancestors have lived above ground, to this day even, and it's quite possible that they evolved differently than us. Underground fairies don't like cold, whereas when we lived above ground, we didn't mind. There are many other little differences.

"It's quite possible that the Cobh Clan is alive today, hidden somewhere above ground. They'd have different powers than us, maybe even have retained the gift of flight. It would be a scientist's dream to find the Cobh Clan. But maybe they don't exist. Maybe they never did. We just don't know." Sebastian stopped, glad to give his voice a rest.

"It was _real_." They almost didn't hear Holly's amazed whisper. They all turned to look at her. She looked up at them. "Last night, I had a weird dream too. I didn't think it was real, until now. I saw someone telling me, or whoever I was seeing through in the dream, the story Sebastian just told us."

"But . . . your dreams are about Tarcil's feelings. And it's quite possible that you'd see his dreams." Sarah said slowly, not daring to believe what this meant.

Holly swallowed and said "So it's true. The Cobh Clan _does_ exist. And Tarcil's one of them. The Cobh Clan is looking for Pendant."

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Alixi: Well, in the future, someone we know is going to get killed off. Guess who? Agree with the lost sense of direction thingy, most annoying. Even more annoying than getting knocked out in the first place.**

**Maria: Here are the answers to your questions, in order. They're in a room next to the room with the body. The person is not Tarlang, we find out who it is in this chappie. Yup, Sarah got a kinda close look at the globe. No. No. He committed suicide. I shall indeed make Holly conscious more. I'll let you in on a little secret: I like frying pans too.**

**Maria: Nope, Casper's not the soul bonded in alliance, that's about the four teenagers being bonded in having to work together. ACK! You have guessed Casper's whole point in this . . . But I'll not tell you which guess is correct. De nada. Hablas espanol?**

**Maria: You were bored today, weren't you? Imagine bothering to try and decipher my prophecy . . . how odd. I'll only answer the questions that won't give away any of the rest of the story, sorry. Can't tell you who's "the One". Will have them use their gifts more. It's just they haven't really had much opportunity to so far. I will remedy that. Right about the young not shying away. Wrong about key for a door meaning Sarah's key :) I'm enjoying this. Next question . . . Casper isn't one of the four, he's just a bird. **

**  Big hint that will give away BIG part of my story if you figure it out: The first four lines of the prophecy have two meanings. 1) Nice bit of poetry I wrote ;) 2) They are talking about one thing and one thing only, though I guess you could apply them to a lot of things. What is it? Can't tell. But all the clues are in the story. If you guess, DO NOT tell any other readers, it will spoil it. And if you guess, I shall give you un grande prize. Not sure what. But anyways.**

**Liaranne: No problem, insomniac meself, so sleep isn't usually a problem. Except recently, which was odd. Thank you for compliment re: my humour.**

**Butterflybabe515: 'Course I remember you. Thanks :) About your guess, do you have any prophetic blood in you?**

**Mad Sam: I wouldn't want to sleep in a house with a dead body either. That would be freaky. ACK! You have very true feelings . . . I don't like Casper either. And I have a bad feeling about him too. Though I know what he does, so that's understandable. Just keep quiet about your suspicions, I must reward you if they're right.**

**Mad Sam: Damn, I forgot about the disclaimer. Will put one in this chappie. Thanks for pointing it out. **

**Waves-Sama: Yum, pixie stick sounds nice. Don't mind if I do. Humour is improving, good.**


	23. The Library

**A/N Thank you all for your reviews. It's not that they were different than any other time, it's just life is not good right now. Aunt's cancer recovery not going well, mother's still gone, father's job hours are just plain stupid and to top it all off, I had to spend two hours on a jam-packed train, standing up in the division between carriages. With only a bunch of French uni art students to talk to. Still, they were nice enough after they stopped laughing at my Irish accent. What fun.**

**But then I came home and found all these nice reviews in my inbox, several of which made me laugh. So, I'd just like to say: I LOVE MY REVIEWERS!!! * author's little brother does her a favour and clobbers her upside the head, bringing her crashing back to her (minimal) senses *  But you didn't come her to listen to me jabber on, so here's the chapter.**

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO 

_"The Cobh Clan is looking for the Pendant."_

"How did you _know_ all that?" Holly asked Sebastian.

"Read it in a book that was released recently. Apparently someone had found new evidence that might prove the existence of the Cobh Clan. Of course, what we know shoots it all out of the water." He replied.

They all stared at each other, not really believing what this meant. They weren't up against one evil and rich fairy with a lot of hired hit-fairies, but instead, what could be an entirely different race. It was a family, too. Increased loyalty. And they had all the motivation they needed. Sebastian was staring off into the distance again. Trouble and Holly were looking worried, while Sarah was frowning. Casper looked downright ill.

Casper cleared his throat and said "That was essentially what I was going to tell you. Cobh inherited the Pendant and he, like Tarlang, was so scared of what he could do if he gave in to the power that he went into self-imposed solitary confinement. He built three-quarters of the Kobalt, you know. Tarlang finished it. It was so big that Tarlang never explored all the rooms, and never found the body. That's why it's still there."

"We should bury it." Sarah said resolutely.

"What's the point? There's little more than bones left anyway." Trouble pointed out.

"But we can't just _leave_ it there! It's been there for centuries already!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Millennia, probably." Sebastian commented. This didn't actually make Sarah feel any better.

Holly nodded and said "I agree. We can't leave it there."

"Where do you propose to bury it? We're in a gorge made of solid rock." Sebastian pointed out.

Sarah scowled. "Fine. But when this is all done, I'm coming back here to bury the poor guy."

"Assuming we live through this." Sebastian added.

"Will you stop being so pessimistic? Look on the bright side." Sarah snapped, though she sounded like she wasn't taking her own advice.

Sebastian looked at her. "What bright side? The LEP have finally cottoned on to me, I have to save the world with the help of three other teenagers whose idea of criminal activity is throwing cacti at people, and I'm stuck in an enormous house  in the middle of nowhere, with a dead body."

Holly stood up and said "Let's get a move on before Sebastian starts cutting things, probably us.." She walked out into the next room.

"Your concern would be touching had it extended to me ." Sebastian called after her. The others stood up as Holly walked back in. She clearly hadn't been able to stand the smell or sight of the skeleton in the next room. Casper flew out and landed on the handle of the door to the hall. His weight made it turn. He grabbed the handle in his claws and pulled, then flew out the open door into the hall.

"How did you _know_ all that? About the Cobh Clan?" Trouble asked Sebastian.

"Read it in a book that was released recently. Apparently someone had found new evidence that might prove the existence of the Cobh Clan and rehashed the whole thing in his book. Of course, what we know shoots it all out of the water." he replied.

Trouble nodded, then he and Sarah followed Casper. Holly turned to Sebastian, who was still sitting down, and said exasperatedly "Come on, get up."

He didn't move, just frowned and said "Casper. What do you think of him?"

She gave him an odd look, but said "Sometimes he worries me, his whole attitude thing. He doesn't really seem all there. Like he'd rather be doing something else than helping us. And we didn't even ask him to. Why d'you ask?"

He shrugged. "Instinct. And an odd smell about him. Like he's scared. Constantly scared. Of us. It's weird."

Holly nodded despite herself. She hesitated. Sebastian noticed and asked "What is it?"

"In my dream . . . Tarcil was angry, because he knows we're alive, but he was happy too. Because he knew how to find us. I'm not sure how."

Sebastian opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Sarah's voice calling from the hall. "Will you two hurry it up? What are you doing in there anyway? Or maybe we don't want to know?" Holly's slight frown deepened and she stood up and marched out into the hall. Sebastian just shook his head and followed her.

Upon seeing that they were finally all ready, Trouble turned to Casper and asked "Do you know where the library is?"

Casper shrugged. "I know where it might be. In the main part of the house, this way." They followed him, through winding halls and up and down staircases. Finally, they came to  a large and imposing set of double doors. They were elaborately carved out of stone, whereas all the other doors in the Kobalt were wooden.

Sarah placed her palm flat on the stone. "There's magic in this." she commented. "To keep something inside. Extra magic, I think." She placed her other hand on the other door and glanced at Casper, who nodded. Sarah pushed and the doors swung smoothly open.

She stepped into the bright room, lit by large light fixtures hanging form the ceiling that had ignited when the doors opened. It was a huge circular room, with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves against every wall, many tables, desks and chairs spread around the room and every available surface was covered in stacks of books.

Sarah started wandering around, awed by the sheer number of books and the magic radiating off them. Casper landed on the back of a chair and gave an appreciative squawk. Trouble, Holly and Sebastian stood just inside the door and took it all in. Trouble was sure this was the most books he'd ever seen in one place, while Holly was thinking how long it must have taken to amass this many books. Sebastian, however, being an eternal pessimist, was dismayed by how many books they'd have to search through.

"This'll take forever." he said mournfully.

Holly clapped him on the shoulder, with more force than was necessary, and said cheerfully "Look on the bright side. Remember, Seb?" She gave him a grin and went to help Sarah.

Sebastian rubbed his shoulder and muttered "I'd rather forget, thanks all the same." Trouble hid his smile and entered the library as well. Sebastian followed him, still grumbling.

Five minutes later, they had decided who was going to do what. Sebastian was keeping a sulky watch while the other three looked for a book that might contain the spell they, or, more specifically, Sarah needed. Trouble was working according to the Destiny Theory: he'd pick something at random and hope that fate would make it the one they needed. Holly and Sarah were being a bit smarter.

They were slowly working their way in opposite directions, scanning the book titles to see if they might apply to their current situation of needing to summon onyx from under a lake.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sarah was loving every minute of this. She loved everything to do with ancient and arcane magic. It was no wonder, really, that she was the Caster. Her mind was totally focused on the task at hand; she was giving no thought whatsoever to the rest of their situation.

She stopped at a likely sounding title. She grasped Geology- Rocks, Stones And Pebbles and took it over to a table. She quickly flipped to the pages on onyx, but no such luck as to finding a spell to find it. She sighed, put it back on the shelf it had come from and carried on.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Holly was searching, while trying to ignore her gift, which was getting very annoying, trying to get her attention. It was like reading a particularly garish poster; you're trying to read the small, black, boring print, while the loud, colourful words keep trying to grab your attention, when you don't want them to. Very frustrating.

Subconsciously, she checked on each of the other's emotions. Sarah, who was closest, was in seventh heaven; she was loving every minute of this. Trouble was happy enough too, though there was an undercurrent of nervousness coursing through him. Sebastian was mad. Again. He was also nervous, a little on edge. Casper was impenetrable. She supposed her gift only worked on fairies.

Holly stopped suddenly, sure that she had misread the last title. She turned, leaned closer and grimaced. Who under the earth, she wondered, could be motivated to write a book called The Finer Workings Of Squid Intestines? Holly shuddered and continued on her way.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sebastian, sitting just in front of the only door, the one they'd entered through, was not happy. The others were slowly driving him crazy. It was obvious they didn't like having him along, at least to Sebastian. They'd voted to have Sebastian keep watch, so they could search in peace. As if a watcher was needed.

He scowled. He hated this whole situation. But he wouldn't leave. Rowan and Root had made it crystal clear that if he refused to participate in this, they'd hunt him down and have him jailed for his crimes. Sebastian felt a little better at the thought that they'd wipe his record clean after this affair was over and done with. If he survived it.

His scowl deepened and he shifted position, feeling his mood darken even more.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Casper, sitting watching the search, was getting more nervous by the minute. He didn't like this business. It was too nerve-wracking. He shivered as he remembered that the adult, Ash, would find them soon. He didn't like Ash; he'd only met him briefly, but Ash had seemed too protective of the children.

He felt the familiar pang of doubt as he thought of the children. Best not to think about them, then, he decided. Hopefully we'll get to the lake before Ash joins us, he thought. That would complicate matters. He sighed and moved into a more comfortable position, to better wait out the search.

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Seadragon: Blargh. I really don't want to kill off Sebastian or Sarah, but I really need to fix their characters! Argh, help me here! I need them for another while, but I'd like to keep them. Because deep underneath their annoying exteriors, they both have hearts of gold. Was that cheesy enough? :)**

**Albinoblacksheeep007: I like frying pans too. My mother gave me one for a joke Valentine's Day present. Who knows why. Your other presents sound fun too.**

**Alixi: No one that important in the story. Well, not AS important as the four. Actually, two sort-of important people get killed off. But only one's really a person. If that made any sense.**

**Levaire: Thank you :) I considered having Casper be a shape shifter, but decided against it, because there'd be too many loose ends. **

**Liaranne: Oh. Well, thanks, I guess. I was just ranting on in the disclaimer. I actually didn't know what the hell you were talking about until I went back and read my disclaimer. Here follows my thought process while re-reading my disclaimer: Uh-huh . . . true . . . true . . . yup . . . did I write that? . . . what the hell is that supposed to mean?!?!  . . . oh whatever. Thanks :)**

**Mad Sam: Shh! Yes, but don't give it away just yet! We still have at least another chappie to go. Maybe two, depending on how much detail I put in. Damn, it could be closer to three. Here are the answers to your questions in order: **

**  Nope, onyx was never mentioned before. **

**  The first four lines of the prophecy have two meanings. 1) Nice bit of poetry I wrote ;) 2) They are talking about one thing and one thing only, though I guess you could apply them to a lot of things. What is it? Can't tell. But all the clues are in the story. If you guess, DO NOT tell any other readers, it will spoil it.**

**  Nope, Holly's not wearing the Pendant. The Pendant is a silver triangle thingy and is currently hidden somewhere that no one but me knows. ;)**

**  Er, can't tell you. Though you'll probably guess anyway.**

**  * laughs *  No, but I should have thought of that**

**  OK, Tarlang is, pardon the expression, a "good guy". He's the one who hid the Pendant. Tarcil is a "bad guy" and is trying to: a) Find the Pendant before the four b) kill the four c) use the Pendant to take over the world. Comprendes?**

**BeatlesLover: Thanks. Your review made me laugh Dunno why. But thanks.**

**Maria: It _looked_ like he was about to be killed, but did we _see_ him killed? Fleece blankets? Sounds nice. Nice sheeps. Or sheep. Si, yo tambien hablo un poco espanol (damn n accent dun't work), desde sepitembre. **

**  Strange language, yup, Sarah doing magic. Ack, you guessed the two who're gonna die. Still, I'm surprised people haven't figured out one of them.  I mean, it's in the AF books. Damn, shouldn't have said that.**

**Butterflybabe515: Same is true about my family, except I believe both sides are insane. My cousin (6 year old boy) recently burned his family's house down by setting his older brother's bed linen on fire. Creative fella, isn't he?**

**REVIEW!!! Oh, yes, PLEASE help me think up a better title.**


	24. Getting Somewhere

            A/N APOLOGIES. Long-ish delay. Still, I'm not at the months-between-updates stage yet. Yet. * makes face * Not that I will be anytime soon. I was just at a nasty part in the story, where everything was going reeeealy slow and it was boring me too much to be able to force myself to write. Everyone, thank my little sister and little brother for dragging me out of my self-pity and getting me moving again. Thanks, my wee bundles of joy. 

**            Oh, yeah. Last time I complained about my life. Normal adolescent activity ;) Sorry about that, wont' do it again. You people don't need to be bored by my troubles. But thanks to those people who offered their sympathy. On with the show.**

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE 

Trouble was having a ball. Other than when he'd found a book with several spirited drawings on the subject of disembowelment, things were enjoyable. He'd have preferred to be outside, really _doing_ something, something active, but there would be time enough for that later, he knew. He grabbed another book from a teetering stack on a desk, accidentally causing the whole pile to collapse and fall on the floor.

He sighed and got down on hands and knees to get them out from under the table. He bent his head to get under it, then slid the books out behind him. When they were all out, he straightened a little and whacked his head on the underside of the table.

Trouble swore and reached his hand up to gingerly rub his head. His hand brushed the bottom of the tabletop. He was out from under the table and halfway standing up when he realized what had been odd about when his hand had touched the underside of the table. Undersides of tables aren't usually made from parchment.

He was back under the table in a flash and lying on his back, looking up at the bottom of the desk. There were several parchments, in a stack, taped to it. Trouble removed the tape, careful not to rip the parchment under it.

He stood up and sat down at the desk, having completely forgotten the books still lying on the floor. He turned the first page, which was blank, and leaned forwards to read the next page, written in an angular, spidery handwriting.

_To whom it may concern,_

_Presumably you have found this by looking everywhere for it. If this is not the case, and you found it by luck, I must congratulate you. You will need that luck before long._

_Should you need what you think is contained here, you must be a novice spell-caster, which is unfortunate, as the book you seek was destroyed as a precaution._

Trouble stopped reading and groaned. All their work for nothing. How could they hope to find the Pendant if they couldn't follow the path in his dream? He sighed and decided to read what the rest of the letter said anyway.

_However, I have copied out the directions and incantation, which is all you need. Only the dedicated will find this, therefore deserving it._

_Read this over and memorize what you must do. DO NOT COPY OR WRITE ANYTHING DOWN. The spell must remain lost to the rest of the world, like is has been._

_Go to the lake named Gaxun Nur, roughly 100 kilometres south of this house, as the falcon flies. On the north shore of the lake, cast the spell written in these pages._

_Among the other rocks of onyx that will come to you, left there to make the task more difficult, is a box fashioned from onyx. In it are instructions of what you must do next. MEMORIZE THEM AND REPLACE THE ROCKS AND BOX IN THE LAKE. This will ensure that, should you fail, others can attempt to do what you do now._

_When you have finished with these documents, replace them where you found them._

_May the gods bless you and grant you luck._

_Lorcan Solatrifail_

_Descendant of Tarlang Caillas, 33rd generation_

Trouble flipped through the rest of the documents with a smile on his face. They contained all the instructions Sarah would need. He got up and walked over to Holly and Sarah, the papers in his hand.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Fifteen minutes later, Sarah was confident that she could do the spell properly. She'd been practising with Holly's onyx pendant. Though, as Sebastian cheerfully put it, there's a lot of difference between summoning a tiny pendant from under a pile of books across the room, and summoning a load of rocks from under a few thousand tonnes of water in the middle of a lake.

Sarah handed Holly back her necklace and said brightly "So, are we going now?" Casper nodded and flew off before anyone could say anything. Holly frowned. 

Trouble walked over to her and asked in an undertone "What's the matter?"

"It's Casper. It's nothing specific about him, it's just . . . oh, I don't know, I guess I just have a bad feeling about him."

Trouble nodded. He was a great believer in following your instincts and being the Dreamer had only helped this tendency along. "What do you think we should do?"

"We can't really do anything. Except stay alert." Holly mused. "And take off the safeties on the Neutrinos." she added.

Trouble grinned, remembering how, in his dream, Holly had gotten very much into the whole shooting lark. His smile faded as he replayed the rest of his dream in his head. Amusing as it had been to see Holly lose it and shoot everything, Sebastian _had_ seemed to be genuinely angry and ready for a fight. But maybe that was just Sebastian. Trouble hoped things wouldn't come to what he'd dreamt. Though on the other hand, everything he'd dreamt so far had come true.

He sighed, then hit upon a whole other problem. He hurried up to draw level with the others, Holly speeding up with him.

"Hey, guys? Are we just gonna fly a hundred klicks right now, with the wings?"

Casper nodded curtly. Sarah shrugged.

"There's no shuttle port left to use. All blown up. Besides, at full speed it'll only take an hour, tops."

Trouble nodded. He turned his attention back to Casper, who was guiding them expertly through the winding corridors of the house. Something poked at the back of his brain, trying to get his attention.

What? A voice in his head said, annoyed. What is it?

_Think!_ Another voice snapped. _What's wrong here?_

Nothing's wrong.

_GAH! Kobalt! Big! Easy to get lost! Casper! Can it be any easier?!_

Slowly it dawned on Trouble. Casper had found the library easily. Now he was finding his way out again easily. Yet last night he had been totally lost.

"Casper, you said you didn't know your way around here." Trouble said casually.

"Only the main part. With the necessary rooms. Library. Kitchen." Casper replied shortly.

Not convinced, Trouble persevered. "But last night you couldn't find your way from the front door."

"I was tired! I forgot, pardon me!" Casper snapped.

"You're getting more like Sebastian everyday, maybe it's a shape shifter thing." Sarah commented.

"I'm no shape shifter." Casper said derisively. Trouble opened his mouth to reply sharply, but Holly poked him.

"Don't get him any madder than he already is, Frond knows why." she muttered.

Trouble scowled, but kept his mouth shut. He snatched a quick glance at the motley group around him. Holly was surreptitiously messing with the buttons on her Neutrino. Sebastian was hissing at her that she'd blow her foot off in a second if she didn't stop it and he was in no mood to mop up gore at the moment. Sarah was bouncing along beside Casper, humming tunelessly. Casper himself was staring straight ahead, and though it's hard to tell with birds, he looked angry.

Trouble kept his mind on the path they had to follow, as they retraced their trip from the previous night, passing through all the rooms rather quickly.

Holly had to literally drag Sebastian away from the crossbow rig in the room where Trouble and Sarah had narrowly avoided being turned into shish-kebabs. Sarah helpfully diagnosed an affixation for pointy things and suggested that Sebastian was a little less than normal.

Then she fell down the stairs and spent the next twenty minuets in a daze. Holly stopped laughing right before she turned blue. Casper pecked Sebastian half to death in an effort to get them moving. Things returned to normal. Or whatever passed for normal.

They entered the tunnel and after some deliberation, the key to the large door was left in a vase. Trouble muttered obscene phrases about irony under his breath until Casper appeared to try and gouge his eyes out. They all avoided him after that.

Once outside the Kobalt, they put on the wings. After Sarah was helped to put hers on the right way up, they all gazed at the Kobalt for a moment, then turned and took to the air. Well, all of them save Sarah, who nearly decapitated Sebastian in her effort to get off the ground. After enough swearing to make a sailor blush, Sebastian solved the problem that the others were amusedly watching by grabbing Sarah by the collar and flinging her. Luckily, the engine caught and they all flew (semi) happily off.

They agreed to meet at the shelf they'd spent the first night on, then set off at varying speeds. Throughout this whole process of leaving, Casper had been fretfully urging them to hurry up. But once they were all on the shelf, and unshielded, he quickly slipped back into his old role as the one in charge.

"We need to get there as quickly as possible. We have no idea where the enemy is, so we must assume the worst; they are ahead of us. It's 100 kilometres to Gaxun Nur. I have never been there myself, but I know it is directly south, as a falcon flies, so it will be easy enough to find." The others nodded. Sebastian dug in his pockets, then handed out the mikes, which were looking a little worse for the wear.

They hooked on the earpieces and played out the wire so they could put the battery pack/transmitter in their pocket. It was at this point that Trouble realized that he had managed to get the wire wrapped around his neck. Several times. Surprised, he dropped the battery pack, which dropped like a stone. The wire pulled taut, cutting off his air supply.

The others didn't notice his predicament until they heard a gargle. Holly pulled Trouble's hands away from his neck in an effort to see exactly how to get it off. Sebastian watched her try and untangle the wire, then decided that he'd intervene, if only to stop the thundering racket his protector's sense was making in his head.

He pulled a knife from somewhere and swiped it against Trouble's neck, making Sarah gasp. Sliced in two, the wires fell harmlessly to the ground, the transmitter making a _clunk_ noise. Trouble coughed for a minute, then remembered to breathe. Holly and Sarah glared at Sebastian.

"Nice job." Holly said. "One less mike and you almost slit his throat. Not bad for you." Sebastian just off his own rig and handed it silently to Trouble, then turned away, tucking away the knife.

Casper sighed heavily. "Adolescents." he muttered distastefully. He hopped onto Trouble's shoulder and aid in a mock patient tone "Are we able to leave now?" Trouble flushed a it and started the engine on his wings. The others did the same and they took to the air. Casper lined them up the right way with his infallible sense of direction (**A/N Apparently birds are magnetically attracted to the North Pole, so they have amazing senses of direction. Or so my Science teacher says. It has something to do with magnetism anyway**).

Holly kept looking around her. Casper was in front, with a blur that she guessed was either Sarah or Trouble. There was another blur a bit ahead of her to her right and the fourth blur, who she figured was Sebastian, was hanging a bit behind the group. They were close enough together that no ambush would pick them off one by one. She hastily turned her mind away from that particular train of thought, then went back to messing with her Neutrino. It was a comfort thing.

**Reviewish Stuff:**

Seadragon: Thanks. I think I'm getting better on the Sebastian/Sarah annoyance front. My betas fail to understand the problem, so it was left to my little brother to offer the suggestions that helped. Not bad for a nine year old :)

**Mad Sam: Hmm, my beta keeps nagging me to change the title, which don't like either, but thanks for the feedback. Yup, prophecy is about the Pendant.**

**Maria: Thanks for the sympathy, going better now. Maybe Artemis did say that. I say it a lot, though you wouldn't know that. Unless we actually go to the same school, but don't know it. I doubt it, though. **

**            Nope, Casper isn't a shape shifter, though I did consider that for a bit. I don't like Casper either. But don't worry, he won't be here much longer.  Hint hint hint. Yup, Casper is allied to Tarcil. Not that anyone doesn't know that by now.**

**            Yup, cousin set fire to his house at the tender age of five. He only burnt the roof off, though, not the whole house. Though the smoke damage did the rest. And the water form the fire hoses. Same outcome. New house. I'm a pyro and lovin' it ;) Yup, Holly's dad dies when she's sixty, but there's a bit where they all see part of their future and she sees her dad dying. My beta hates me for putting that in, she's an eternal optimist and wants everything to be happy. I'm the opposite, sarcastic cynical pessimist. **

**BeatlesLover: I have a friend who loves the Beatles. She was wearing a Beatles sweat shirt today, actually. Thanks for the compliments.**

**Liaranne: Hmm, missed that double-written stuff. Fixed it anyway. Thanks for the sympathy and feedback. It helps.**

**Butterflybabe515: Thanks. I don't think my cousin has done that yet, but he's damn near close :)**

**Waves-Sama: Not two of the four main characters. Two minor-ish characters. I can't kill off the four.**

**BeatlesLover: Yeah, the frying pans were an unexpected hit. Dunno why. Don't worry, none of the four are getting the chop, it's two minor-ish characters. I need the four of them. Sarah's definitely staying too. As I've been hinting (OK, blatantly saying), Casper's going down. I keep saying it because I'm counting down the chapters 'till I can get rid of him, he annoys me.**

**FlyingPurplePig: Thank you. **

**REVIEW, PEOPLE!!! **

**PS Expect another delay of week or so, I need to get ahead in my writing. Sorry. After that, I promise to try and keep it regular.**


	25. Descending Evil

**A/N Blargh. School is not fun. WAY too much homework and projects going on. And I've still got the worst ahead of me makes face (note: if you are in a hurry, skip to the next paragraph, where I say _when_ exactly I'm gonna update again). OK, here's the deal. Next week, have a week-long field trip. The week after, got four projects due. Lull for a bit while we prep for exams, then the next week, exams. Then school finishes. Whoop-dee-doo.**

**So it will really be impossible for me to update anytime soon. I might be able to keep writing, but no updates for a bit, methinks. Anyhoo, expect an update AT THE LATEST by June 17th, when school lets out. I promise I'll be better during the summer, since I'm not going anywhere.**

**CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR**

They flew south, straight and true, as the scenery flashed by beneath them. There isn't much that can be said about the hour-long journey. Sarah narrowly avoided hitting a bird several times. Holly almost shot her foot off by messing with the buttons on her Neutrino. Casper and Sebastian said nothing. Trouble almost fell asleep at one point.

The landscape was getting flatter, and dustier. Casper came out of his preoccupied silence long enough to tell them that the Gobi desert was nearing, to the south-west. Several times, Holly thought she saw a silvery flickering that could have been water on the horizon, but it never.

After an hour or so of silence, Casper flicked his wings and started flying lower. Soon, the lake came into view, filling the horizon. It was easily thirty miles long. It was a strange sight, miles of flat emptiness, then a lake glistening right in the middle of it. Casper suddenly flipped himself almost head-first downwards and dive-bombed, hurtling downwards. The others followed at a more sedate pace.

They touched down about a quarter of a kilometre away from the north shore of the lake. On the ground, they could no longer see the lake, as a ridge rose up in front of them, following the shape of the lake's shore away on either side of them. It was low, easily climbed, but it still blocked the shore from view.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Sebastian's mood darkened. Something wasn't right around here. He turned to the others and said "I'll stay and keep watch here."

Casper nodded and added "I will stay as well." Sarah nodded too and she, Holly and Trouble started up the low hill. Sebastian watched as they quickly ascended it. For an instant, they were framed against the sunlight on top of the hill, that was reflected off the lake. Sebastian frowned as he realized that anyone in a few miles' distance could see them.

Casper, on the other hand, was perfectly relaxed, a strange change that had come about when he landed. He was happy, perhaps because the four were about to get somewhere. Or because they weren't. He settled himself on a branch of a low bush, to avoid the midday sun that would soon be upon them. Sebastian crouched down beside the bush, his eyes constantly searching for danger, never knowing it was preening itself beside him.

It was a beautiful view from the top of the ridge. The lake was huge and shimmering. Sarah felt the first gnaw of doubt when she saw the size of the lake she'd be casting the spell on. She started down the other side of the ridge, determined to get this over and done with. She stood on the shore, where the ground sloped a little, down to the water's edge.

She crouched down and trailed her fingers in the water. There was no magical residue, so it had been a very long time since someone had last cast the spell to summon the onyx. She stood up and backed away, to stand with Holly and Trouble. She surveyed the lake one more time, then shrugged and said "Here goes."

Holly was just debating with herself whether it would prudent to back away when Sarah spoke a single word. Immediately, an invisible force picked Holly up and threw her backwards, away from Sarah and the lake. Holly landed on her back with a thud that knocked the breath out of her. She lay there for a moment, then looked around and saw Trouble lying to her side, also winded.

Sarah didn't appear to notice the lack of people around her. She was concentrating on the spell, remembering the words in it, picturing them in her mind while she spoke them. Immediately, she felt something try and pull her into the lake. Sarah dug her heels into the sandy lakeside soil and continued with the second part of the incantation. Her vision grew blurry and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. Something was pounding in her ears. It took Sarah a few seconds to realized it was her own frantic heartbeat.

She took a shuddering breath and began the third, and thankfully final, part of the spell. As the last word left her mouth, she remembered the advice in the parchment writings, and kept concentrating on the depths of the lake.

For a terrible moment, nothing happened, then there was a low rumble, barely audible, and the surface of the lake rippled slightly. Sarah wisely took a few steps backwards, just as several hundred rocks exploded out of the lake and landed with a deafening thud where Sarah had stood a moment before.

Once the rocks had settled, Sarah cautiously stepped up to the pile, which was as tall as her. Some of the stones were dull, moss-covered, while others were as shiny as if they were new. Some were as big as a torso, others a fist, still others a fingernail, all in a mound on the lake's shore.

Holly and Trouble came to stand beside her, awed by her spell and (though they wouldn't admit it) surprised that it had actually worked. It was then that a blood-curdling shriek split the air, sounding vaguely bird-like. They waited, shaken, until they were sure that it hadn't been Sebastian murdering Casper.

Sarah recovered first, and did the first thing she felt like. She plopped down on the sand, exhausted by the effort to cast the spell. Trouble sat beside her, examining the pile of rocks. Holly opted for a more hands-on approach and started flicking the smaller pebbles away.

Sarah hopped up and stood on the opposite side of the pile than Holly, and started moving the rocks that were obviously not boxes. Trouble sat still for another moment, then dragged himself upright and over to the pile, immediately to cut himself on a sharp edge of a stone. He cursed softly and the blue sparks scurried over the tiny cut and in an instant it was gone.

For a while, the only sounds were the shuffling and clunking of stones moving. Every now and then, one of the three would find a likely looking one, try and prise it open, then throw it away in disappointment. After about a quarter of an hour, Sarah unearthed something.

She motioned for the other two to come over. They moved quickly around the diminished pile to stand beside her. In front of Sarah lay a perfectly rectangular stone, quite heavy, with symbols carved on the top. Sarah ran her fingers along the sides and felt the top lift slightly away from the bottom. This was it, she thought.

Sebastian was distractedly fiddling with one of his earrings when he felt a rumbling beneath him, followed almost immediately by a loud thud, both coming from the direction of the lake. He resisted the urge to spin around, instead keeping his eyes on the landscape around him, searching for something, anything, that might have been alerted to their presence.

Casper watched this, amused by the pointlessness of it. He looked upwards, judging it to be about midday, by the sun's position. He smiled to himself, deciding it was time to act. He pretended to be startled by something, and let out a high-pitched shriek that carried for miles.

Sebastian head jerked up and his hand closed around Casper's beak. "Have you gone mad?!" he hissed. "Don't draw any more attention to us, not when we're in such a vulnerable position!" He eased his hand off Casper's beak and went back to toying agitatedly with an earring.

"It is a _terrible_ spot for an attack, isn't it?" Casper said in a conversational tone. Sebastian gave him an odd look, but said nothing. "Yes, it would be awful if you were attacked right about now." Casper continued. "Adults and guardians gone, alone in indefensible territory, just four children with a _priceless_ treasure. What if you should be attacked by, say, a dozen members of the Cobh clan?"

Sebastian's untrusting instincts, honed by years of criminal activity and living on the street, were screaming at him. But Sebastian didn't move, not willing to believe that this was happening just yet. He cursed himself silently. He'd anticipated something like this, hadn't he? Finally, something made it past his blocked throat. "_Why_?"

Casper's eyes gleamed. "Think of the _power_. You can't imagine it; you, an uncivilised, unlearned street-child. But I, I am _nobility_ among my kind. I was _born_ for great things! My kin, they would happy to simply aid in the destruction of this thing you seek. But I have, have always had, greater ambitions. Imagine what we could achieve, Tarcil and I. He, lord of the fairies, and I, lord of the animals! We could rule this world, he and I, with the power of the Pendant! Why settle for respect, when you can have _power_? Why be a hero of this world when you can _rule it_?"

Casper swelled with pride and ego as he triumphantly spat out those last two words. He seemed to have gone completely mad, with the insane fire in his eyes burning brighter than Sebastian had ever seen it.

Sebastian, however, was completely calm. His mind was blank, except for one thing, which he asked Casper in a pitying tone voice one might use to ask a child how it managed to drop its ice cream.

"You actually _believe_ that?"

Casper's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He took several deep breaths, then said in a carefully controlled voice "I won't rise to your bait. You wouldn't like to spend your last moments of life arguing with me, would you?"

Casper lifted a wing and pointed north. Then north-east. Then north-west. Sebastian followed the wing, then stood up in a flash. Blurs were approaching. Fast. They'd be in shooting distance soon. In about ten seconds. Damn Casper! He'd known to keep Sebastian busy until there was no time to escape. Sebastian threw a glance at the rapidly nearing blurs and started a countdown in his head.

_Five_. Sebastian didn't even bother to draw his gun and shoot the laughing Casper. There was no time for that. _Four_. He turned and sprinted for the ridge. _Three_. Quickly ascending it, he started yelling, with his mouth and with his telepathic mind. _Two_. Something, anything, to warn the others. _One_. He was on top of the ridge and he could see the others staring up at him. But it was too late. He could hear the engines of the fairies behind him.

_Zero_.

**Sorry if it seems not nice to end the last chappie for a while with a cliffie. Oh, yeah. Ahem. **

**IMPORTANT! WELL, NOT REALLY, BUT I'M TRYING TO GRAB YOUR ATTENTION! I should like to do a survey. Who do you think should kill Casper, and how? **

**-Sebastian**

**-Holly**

**-Trouble**

**-Sarah**

**-Ash (though I'd have to get him there really fast, which could be difficult)**

**-Random sprite trying to kill the teenagers with REALLY bad aim**

**-No one: suicide or something self-inflicted, like flying right into a tree or an albatross. Hey, there's only so many ways for a bird to commit suicide.**

**Those are some options, but feel free to suggest something bizarre. I look forward to reading your ideas. Adios, amigos.**

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Alixi: Evil personality? You mean Casper? Cause there's more of him in this chappie. Sorta. Yeah. No comprendo.**

**Maria: Your long and rambling review saved my life. Seriously. I had to do an essay test in English. We got three periods to do it, I finished in one. So I had two periods of forty-five minutes to pretend I was working. So I just logged on to my e-mail and found lots of nice reviews. Including yours, which kept me occupied for a good while. My bag is like yours. Or was. The strap broke off and I had to throw it away, meaning it needed to be emptied first. My mother took one look at the inside and banished me to the garden to do it. Sad but true. **

** Yes, disembowelment is indeed fun (please note sarcasm) and has actually been the subject of several enthusiastic DINNER-TIME conversations at my house. I excused myself and ran. Your inside jokes seem as insane as the ones my friends and I have. You remind me of my friend now living in the States. The same rambling insanity. Thanks for the review ;)**

**Mountain King: Read it in one day? Wow, someone was bored. The whole frying pan plot was a hit, though I just threw it in one time when I couldn't think of anything to write. Casper annoys me too and I WROTE him. Gods, that's sad. Still, I get to write the death scene, looking forward to that ;) I'm thinking of adding new characters, but I don't see how I can keep them very long without it seeming choppy and random.**

**Mad Sam: Sorry, you'll have to wait another age for the next update :( Funny thing, everyone seems to hate Casper. I wonder why.**

**xxmoggetxx: You're one of those people who read stories from the very first chapter and follow them psychotically, but never review them, aren't you? I confess to being one of those myself until recently. goes and reads your bio Hey, cool, you put me on your favourites list! Thanks for that, and for taking the time to review anyway. Looking forward to hearing more from you in the future, hint hint hint ;)**

**BeatlesLover: No offence taken. My Science teacher is insane anyway. **

**Waves-Sama: Casper's death scene hasn't come yet, but getting close . . .**

**BeatlesLover: You were bored, eh? I actually haven't seen The Birds, but I read the book. Alfred Hitchcock DOES rock. Damn typos. I had a reviewer who'd tally the typos for me, but she's otherwisely occupied now, methinks. And your two reviews were the final things that guilt-tripped me into updating now, along with the rest of the reviews.**


	26. Boredom In Firefights

**A/N I know, I know, I said I wouldn't be updating, but I REALLY don't feel like doing my homework. So I figured I might as well update, since I've got another four chapters after this one already written, so no need to work on that right now.**

**Oh yes. I really enjoyed reading all your suggestions for Casper's death (most of which involved Sarah and a frying pan), but believe it or not, this story has to be half serious, so I think I'll go with a more, um, _sedate_ death. Thanks for the input, though, I loved reading it all. I'm in the middle of writing the death scene now, actually. Very scarce. No theatrics, I hate it when characters JUST WON'T BLOODY DIE ALREADY! Sorry, I needed to rant.**

**You never know, you might get another chapter sooner than I thought, no promises though, come what may and all that. Enjoy.**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR**

Trouble, Sarah and Holly all jerked their heads up at the same moment, hearing Sebastian's unintelligible yelling, both mentally and physically. A heartbeat later, they saw him on top of the ridge, running towards them. Just then, a beam was shot from the other side of the ridge, which missed Sebastian, hitting the ground right behind him instead.

The beam was more powerful than a Neutrino, and more explosive. The ground right behind his heels exploded and Sebastian suddenly found himself in mid-air, flying forwards, then falling into the lake, which was suddenly right beneath him.

Sarah's jaw dropped to her ankles as something unshielded in the air above the ridge. Five somethings. Like sprites, about the same size as underground fairies, Sarah judged, but more human looking, both in skin colour and the roundness in the features, as opposed to the pointiness normally associated with elves and sprites.

The fairies above the ridge didn't seem to find Sarah nearly as interesting as she found them. They were only interested in shooting her. But she was paralysed; unable to move from where she knelt in the sand, the onyx box in front of her. Holly had no such qualms. She jumped up, drawing her Neutrino in a fluid motion, then jacked the setting up a notch just in case these fairies happened to be more resistant than underground fairies.

It was only after she took out two of them, stunning them before they fell, unconscious, down to the crest of the ridge, that the other attackers got over their shock. The three still in the air darted backwards and upwards, a bit unsure what to do, now that Trouble was also standing, gun drawn and aimed at them. The attackers hadn't been expecting such a quick (and ever-so-slightly violent) reaction.

Trouble looked down at Sarah, still frozen on the ground and snapped "Get up! Quick! Get your gun and go find Sebastian and whatever you do, _don't let them have the box_!" Startled into action, Sarah hefted the box (quite heavy for its comparatively small size) and raced for the lake.

She stopped running when the water was up to her shins, then looked around desperately. Sebastian was nowhere to be seen, thought here were plenty of ripples from where he'd fallen in, about twenty seconds ago.

A beam shot by her, missing her by a few feet. She jumped, startled, just as Sebastian surfaced further out into the lake, spitting water and mud. He shook his head like a large dog, sending water flying. He looked up and took in the scene in an instant. Sarah, holding the box, staring wide-eyed at him. Holly and Trouble, shooting passably well at odd-looking sprites that were returning rather pathetic fire.

He swam a bit, then once in his depth, ran up to stand beside Sarah and said in a calm voice that both surprised and soothed her (though she suspected that had something to do with the protector's gift) "'s OK. Holly and Trouble are kicking their sorry behinds. Those idiots were expecting something easy, just four kids after all, so they sent green fellas. Inexperienced ones. We've got a chance. Put the box away, get your gun and let's go-"

"-prod some buttock?" Sarah suggested. Sebastian gave her a grin, drew his Neutrino and ran to join in the melee.

Sarah swung her bag off her back and, shielding it with her body, tucked the box into her bag, where the Moonbelt device she'd cannibalised would ensure she didn't feel the extra weight. To anyone standing behind her, though, it looked like she was rummaging in her bag for something. She found an empty can in her bag (Frond knows where _that_ came from . . .), dropped it in the lake with a splash, then turned. To the attackers, it appeared that the onyx box had been dropped in the lake, to be picked up later.

Sarah swung her backpack back onto her back and ran back to the others, who seemed to be faring surprisingly well against the attackers from the Cobh clan. She drew her Neutrino and tried to convince herself it was no different than those plastic laser things you used in those Virtual Reality games that were all the rage amongst young fairies in the downtown arcades.

She stopped beside Sebastian. She tried to calm herself down before she started shooting. "It's OK, you _can_ work this thing. It's simple, right?" she muttered to herself.

Sebastian heard her and rolled his eyes. "Yes, Sarah, it's very easy. Just point, shoot and _hold on to the bloody gun_!" he shouted the last words as Sarah pulled the trigger, then dropped the gun, startled by the recoil. With a sheepish look on her face, she bent down to pick up the gun and almost had her head blown off by another beam.

"Frond, I have my work cut out for me with this protector lark." Sebastian grumbled as he dragged a shell-shocked Sarah upright and put the gun back in her hand. He said in a patient tone "Look, when you see someone pointing a gun in your direction, there's a pretty good chance they're gonna shoot at you, all right? So duck, move, do a jig, just for pity's sake don't get shot in the first five minutes. Puts a bit of a dampener on the rest of the fight if you do." He frowned as an attacker's shot just missed him, then turned and shot the offending sprite out of the air.

Sarah squinted warily at her gun and pointed it in the rough direction of a sprite who seemed to have taken personal offence at Holly's sharpshooter skills and was doing his best to take her out. Sarah slowly pulled the trigger, eyes half closed in case it blew up in her hand. The gun jerked a bit in her hand again. When nothing exploded, she opened her eyes fully and looked over at the sprite, who was howling and holding his ear, the shot not having been direct enough to stun him outright.

Holly took advantage of his distraction and landed a sweet shot right on his chest. She looked over at Sarah and grinned, mouthing "Thanks." Sarah stared at the gun in her hand and smiled weakly. She knew Holly and Trouble, both having fathers in the LEP, had used the training facilities and virtual shooting ranges several times before, so they had the practice to get by in a fire fight, if not the experience. Sebastian, she supposed, had been holding up banks since he cut his first tooth.

Sarah, however, hadn't ever done this sort of thing before, having spent most of her childhood with a father who was happiest whilst flying, and a grandmother with an unhealthy love of poker. Sarah could go poker-faced and stare down an opponent with the best of them. But guns weren't really her thing.

Oh, well, she decided. You only live once. She lifted the gun again and started shooting. It really is lucky that those things run on nuclear batteries and don't need to be refilled with ammunition every now and then.

After about five minutes, Sarah was surprised to realize that she was feeling rather bored. The sprites were actually rather pathetic, and though they kept being re-woken by some unseen medic on the ridge, their rage didn't improve their shooting skills (which were minimal to start with). And the funny thing was, they didn't see to want to come down from the ridge. It was almost as if they were waiting for something, Holly thought.

Holly glanced down the straggly line the four teenagers had formed; herself on the end, then Trouble, then Sebastian, with Sarah on the other end. No one seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown, which was a plus. Everyone had, she quickly counted, all four of their limbs and their head, which was a definite victory.

In fact, the worst injury amongst them seemed to be the nasty burn mark across Sebastian's cheek, parallel to the not-yet-fully-healed claw mark he'd given himself back in the Kobalt. Holly grinned at the thought of what Sebastian's expression would be if she reminded him that he'd been nagging _her_ to be careful with her Neutrino.

So they were faring surprisingly well, Holly was pleased to note. The sprites on the ridge had stopped firing and there seemed to be a bird hovering in the air beside them. She looked closer and realized it was Casper.

Everything fell into place. How the Cobh clan had found them, Casper's suspicious behaviour, his knowledge of where to go and what to do. Casper had betrayed them. And yet again, Holly's Short's volatile temper threw itself out the window, right onto a passer-by.

Holly's arm flew up and she blasted several shots in Casper's direction before Trouble grabbed her and forced the gun in another direction (at Sebastian, incidentally, who failed to notice, as did Holly and Trouble). "No! Don't shoot!" he gasped.

"Why not?! He betrayed us! That's how they found us! He tried to kill us!" Holly spat.

"I don't really care if you kill him or not, just not right now! They're waiting for something, don't make them act too soon or we won't have time to figure out what they're doing." Trouble replied calmly. Holly lowered her gun arm and nodded, fixing her gaze on the figures above the ridge.

Casper, she was disappointed to see, was still alive, though he seemed to be missing quite a few feathers. Holly's spirits lifted a little, then plunged once again as another dozen odd-looking sprites unshielded on the ridge, these ones looking far less pathetic than the first batch.

It was easy to tell that the second group was older and more powerful. The way the first group (those that were conscious) were behaving towards them spoke clearly of a hierarchy to be respected, bordering on reverence towards two of the larger sprites. Sebastian's eyes narrowed as he inspected the newcomers. They seemed to be old hands at the fighting game, from the easy way they inspected their surroundings and their lithe movements. This wasn't another inexperienced scout squad, he knew with a sinking heart These were trained pros, the crack team of hit-fairies of the Cobh Clan.

Sebastian sighed and checked his knives. He'd probably be needing them shortly. His gaze drifted over his three comrades, who were apprehensively watching the newcomers as well. Up on the ridge, all the Cobhs were on the ground and organizing themselves quickly. A member of the second squad stepped forwards and the four teenagers all grasped their guns more firmly.

To their surprise, he shouted down to them, instead of shooting. "Good afternoon! It is indeed a good day for a fight!" The other Cobhs laughed, evidently finding something funny about the idea of fighting children. Idiots obviously hadn't paid attention to what had happened to the first squad, a good three quarters of whom were flat on the floor.

"I shall make you an offer, since we of the Cobh clan do not enjoy needless slaughter." Holly raised her eyebrows, a bit surprised by this affirmation. The others didn't seem to have minded, she thought wryly.

The sprite continued. "Hand us over the box and Tarlang's heir and we will let the other three go free." He paused. "_After_ we take their wings and weapons." Holly's eyes narrowed and she expected the other Cobhs to laugh. But none did.

They shifted and muttered a bit, but shut up when the big sprite with a shaven head standing behind the speaker glared at them. The speaker, who seemed to be the leader, said something, then turned back to the four.

"Well? What do you say? We would rather not have to spill any blood, you are too young to die."

Sebastian clenched his gun harder and hissed through clenched teeth "You're _never_ too young to die. I almost found _that_ out a long time ago. Come on, get it over with already." Sarah nudged him to be quiet; the leader was yelling again.

"Hand over the heir and the box! _Now_, before we change our minds!"

The four teenagers looked at each other, then Holly said "I have an idea."

Sebastian gave her a side-long glance, trying to keep his focus on the Cobh clan. "What is it?"

"Tell them the truth. We don't know who the heir is. Make them take us all along. They won't kill us, because they don't know who the heir is either." Holly said quickly. The other three nodded. There was no time for another plan. Then Sebastian turned and shouted up to the fairies in the ridge.

"That's very kind of you, I'm sure, but there's a wee problem."

The sprite laughed and shouted back "And what's that?"

"We don't know who the heir is." Sebastian replied sullenly.

The sprite frowned. "That is a problem. Though it's only to have been expected. You're just children, after all."

Sebastian scowled and opened his mouth to say something (probably rather less than polite), but Trouble clapped his hand over Sebastian's mouth and Sarah replied instead.

"We'll give ourselves, and the box, up, all right? Just don't kill us." Sarah succeeded in making her voice waver slightly on the last sentence.

The sprite seemed undecided, and turned to confer with the shaven-headed sprite behind him. Trouble let Sebastian go and concentrated on the two Cobhs, willing them to agree. The big bald one was frowning and shaking his head. Trouble's heart beat faster as he grasped his gun more firmly.

Holly turned to look at the others and said grimly "They're not going for it."

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Mad Sam: Yes, it was rather evil to leave that cliffie, but am I making up for it now? Tarcil will definitely play a role in Casper's death. None of the four will die, I shall announce now. I like them too much ;)**

**BeatlesLover: Are you sure I don't know you? You really remind me of one of my friends who doesn't know I'm a writer. None of them do, actually. I'm sort of a closet writer looks back over what she's written so far Must be a BIG closet. Thanks for the compliments. **

**Liaranne: Very true, I cannot think of a better way to describe school than "ick". Lucky sod, getting out of school on the 4th. Still, we did get three weeks at Easter. Anyhoo, thanks for the review.**

**Maria: Wow, you sure are alive as well. I dunno what time it is over there, cause I'm from good old continental Europe (or close enough to it), so there's a wee bit of a time difference. Eight hours. But anyways. Methought that Seba would kill Casper too, but in the end he didn't. It worked out better another way. Nope, my friend in the States isn't a twin. Why's your dad going to a food show in Chicago? Tell him to stop by in Canada, v. nice place. You live in Minnesota? Jesus, that's a fair hike from where I'm sitting.**

**Levaire: Thanks for the input, never met you before, but thanks for reviewing as well.**

**Ally: laughs It was tempting, VERY tempting, to have Sarah do it, but I needed a sober death scene.**

**Adele Starminster: Same as above **

**BeatlesLover: I concur, it needs to be a serious death. Tarcil will kill him, but Casper doesn't betray Tarcil, other way round. **

**Waves-Sama: Like you name. I hate exams. Especially end-of-year ones. How'd yours go?**

**Mirkwoodmage: The overwhelming majority voted for Sarah to kill him, most with a frying pan. But I don't thinking Sarah's quite up to killing anything yet, not even Casper.**

**BeatlesLover: Jesus, you were BORED. How many times did you review this fic? Thanks for the typos you pointed out. I updated. Now review ;)**

**Wulfie: Someone reads me story at 2:17 AM? Good gods, what have I created?! Yes, I did leave an evil cliffie. This one isn't so bad, though.**

**Ameiliana: Like your name too. Can't pronounce it, though. Sounds like you read most/all of my story. Like it? About the unconscious thing: um, well, I sorta am, not clumsy, but a walking disaster zone (to quote my mother). I have never actually broken one of MY bones (broken several that WEREN'T mine), but have done just about everything else. Dislocated jaw (FOUR times), cut knee open down to the bone, out elbow open down the bone, knocked out a couple of teeth (milk, so that was OK), the list goes on.**

**Results of the vote: **

**Sarah: 7**

**Sebastian: 5**

**Tarcil: 2**

**Something bizarre: 1 (come on, people, where's your imagination?!)**

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**REVIEW!!!**


	27. They're Just Like Us

**A/N OK. I admit it. I am no good at planning ahead. I thought this weekend would be chock full of work, but it took me five hours. The rest of the time I was out skateboarding and watching Harry Potter 3 (thank the gods Alfonso Cuaron is only here for one movie. HP is not his kind of thing. Why, Alfonso, why? Why did you ruin my favourite book?). So better luck for you, I feel like updating. Also the fact that one reviewer pointed out that since I had four chapters after this written, why wasn't I posting them? An excellent point, I concede.**

**Anyhoo, exams start next Monday, so I suppose I should study this week. But you might get an update. Who knows. Depends on how much I don't feel like studying. **

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**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX**

_Holly turned to look at the others and said grimly "They're not going for it."_

Sarah looked askance at Holly. "You sure? Maybe they have commitment problems. They don't want to be stuck with four kids, something like that." she suggested. Holly rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the speaker on the ridge.

"Very well. Drop your weapons, we're coming down." The four teenagers looked at each other, not really wanting to part with their weapons. Sarah dropped her gun first, then Trouble, then Sebastian sighed and dropped his too. After Sarah gave her a stern look, Holly muttered something unrepeatable and dropped her Neutrino reluctantly on the shore.

The second squad took to the air and in a second, they were landing around the four, surrounding them. One of them raised what looked to be a buzz baton and stepped up behind Sarah, but stopped when Holly and Sebastian, the only ones who'd noticed, gave him death glares. The speaker smiled amusedly at this unsocial display and stepped forwards.

"Greetings. My name is Oppel, and this is my squad. This is Cater, my second-in-command." He gestured to the big sprite with the shaved head, who nodded at them. Oppel motioned to the guns on the ground and said "Seth, Stein. Pick up their weapons." Two sprites stepped forwards and scooped up the Neutrinos, never letting their eyes leave the four teenagers. Sebastian groaned inwardly. They'd been well-trained.

Oppel continued. "If you have any other weapons, please hand them over also. We would like to avoid any unpleasantness in the future, if possible." Sebastian saw the others stare at the ground, not willing to give him away. He let his hand travel to one of his pockets, but Sarah hissed almost inaudibly "_Don't you dare._ We'll need those later." Sebastian pretended to search in a pocket, then looked up and said to Oppel "I lost it in the lake. That was a good knife, that was. Hope you're happy." he grumbled.

Oppel stared into Sebastian's eyes for a while, Sebastian staring unflinchingly back. Sarah suddenly had a coughing fit and said in a slightly hoarse voice "Do you mind having your staring contest another time, please?" Oppel looked away and gestured at Cater to step forwards.

"Take the box from the lake. You, call the transport to pick us up here."

"Yes sir." A young sprite nodded and pulled out a transmitter. "Where shall I tell them we're going?"

Oppel seemed to think for a minute, then said "Ebinur Hu."

"Ebinur Hu." The sprite affirmed, then turned to talk into the transmitter. Oppel stepped forwards and surveyed Holly, Trouble, Sarah and Sebastian, who were all looking around warily. He hummed to himself for a minute, then called out "Seth, come here, would you?"

Seth, a sprite with an earring who seemed to be the youngest on the squad, stepped forwards. "Yes, boss?" he asked cheerfully.

"You're the grandson of Nicolaii, aren't you? The historian? Tell me, which one of these four looks most like Cobh, or Tarlang, or any of the family?"

Sarah frowned and said "But they've been dead thousands of years. How do you know what they look like?"

"We've got a lot of pictures that Cobh brought with him to the Kobalt, then to his wife's house." Seth said absent-mindedly, strolling up and down the straggly line the four made. He stopped on his fourth pass and pointed at Sarah. "She looks a bit like Niamh, Cobh and Tarlang's mother. The eyes and the jaw line."

Oppel nodded "I thought so, but I wanted another opinion. Well, we think we have an heir. We keep the others, though. You never know . . ." he walked over to the sprite with the transmitter without finishing his sentence.

Seth looked over the four teenagers again and gave a low whistle. "You're just kids, aren't you? We thought we'd be up against grown men. Crack LEP units backing up four hefty gnomes. Stuff like that. Not four kids by themselves."

Holly glared at him. "We did all right by ourselves until _that bloody bird_ came along."

Seth smiled and said "None of us like Casper either. But he's useful to Tarcil, so we put up with him."

"You know Tarcil?" Trouble asked, surprised.

"Sure. He's the head of the clan. He's the one who'll own the Pendant when we find it." Seth replied.

"_If_ you find it." Sebastian said suddenly. Seth looked at him and frowned slightly.

"Why shouldn't we find it? It belonged to Cobh first, so it should belong to his descendants now. It's ours by right." Seth replied.

Sebastian looked at him for a minute, then gave a quiet laugh and said "You actually believe that, don't you? My gods, he's brainwashed you all."

Seth frowned and said "Tarcil's always been a good leader. He looks after us all, especially now that the humans are getting restless and spreading everywhere and-"

Sebastian cut him off. "Don't you understand? It _doesn't belong_ to Tarcil. If he takes it and tries to use it, he'll destroy the world."

Seth shook his head. "He said you'd try and tell us things like that." Sebastian sighed and sat down, under the watchful eyes of half a dozen Cobhs.

Sarah shrugged. "Don't mind Sebastian. He has moods every now and then. Just ignore him."

Seth smiled and said "This isn't how I expected it to be, I thought you'd try and kill us."

"I wouldn't put it past Sebastian." Trouble commented with a smile. Seth smiled and looked curiously at Holly, who was sitting on the ground beside Sebastian, staring off into the distance.

"Are you all right? Injured?" he asked kindly. Holly looked up and glared at him. A bit taken aback, Seth asked Sarah and Trouble, who had just sat down to rest as well, in a undertone if she was all right.

"Yup." Sarah said cheerfully. "Just mad that she had to give up her Neutrino. She's very trigger happy, you see."

"I heard that." Holly said absent-mindedly. Seth smiled and sat down too.

"What are we waiting for?" Trouble asked him.

"The transport. It'll taking us to one of our homes, by a lake, called Ebinur Hu. Near the border to what the humans call Kazakhstan. Right now we're in China, near Mongolia."

"We know." Holly said patiently. "We did do _some_ research before coming, which I think is more than you can say." she added, noting the slight flush on his cheeks.

"Leave him alone, Holly. Not his fault he was born into a family bent on destroying the world." Sebastian said.

Holly nodded gravely. "True."

Seth frowned, but Sarah yawned and said "They're just teasing you, dunno why. Just ignore them." At that moment, while Seth was smiling again and shaking his head at these strange teenagers, another sprite walked over to them.

"What's up, Stein?" Seth asked.

"We'll be leaving in about ten minutes. Be ready. Watch the prisoners." Seth nodded. Just then, Oppel and Cater walked over to the group. The rest of the squad drifted closer. Holly, Sarah, Sebastian, Trouble and Seth all stood up.

Oppel looked at the others in his squad. "I know some of you don't agree with taking them all with us. I'm not too happy about it myself."

"We really have no other choice." Cater said suddenly and surprisingly firmly. "Leaving someone here with no weapons or transport is a death sentence in itself."

Oppel sighed. "My boy idolises me for this job. I can't go home and tell him that it involves killing children." The others in the squad nodded. Oppel turned to the four and said "But if you try to run, we _will_ kill you."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "So you can go home and tell your son that today you slaughtered four unarmed children who were fleeing from you?"

Oppel's face darkened. The punch came out of nowhere and connected perfectly with Sebastian's jaw, who hadn't been expecting the blow. Sebastian reeled backwards and would have collapsed had he not crashed into Holly, who caught him and, without any of the Cobhs seeing where it came from, pulled one of Sebastian's knives out of its scabbard on his back, under his shirt.

The Cobhs all jumped forwards, guns drawn. Sarah grabbed Holly's arm holding the knife and wrestled it from her. She held it out in front of her distastefully, while Trouble spoke to Oppel, who was being held by Cater.

"Look, don't beat us up and we'll try and control Holly and Sebastian, OK? We haven't done anything _wrong_. We would really rather let someone else take care of all this. We're just teenagers, for Frond's sake! And we're supposed to save the world. Here, give Sebastian to me." He propped the half-conscious Sebastian to a sitting position on the ground.

Oppel was scowling, but Cater pushed him away to a sprite, who took him out of earshot, to try and make him calm down. Cater said "Oppel is a good leader, but his temper is dangerous, at best. This was supposed to be his last job. I'm sorry about that. We won't harm you again, I promise. Though I suggest you watch yourselves around Oppel, he's . . . unstable. Here, let me see that."

He stretched his hand out to examine Sebastian's jaw, which was turning a lovely shade of blue and purple. A half-conscious Sebastian pulled away from the outstretched hand, but Sarah made an impatient noise and told him to stop being so paranoid, to the amusement of the watching Cobhs.

While Cater was examining Sebastian's jaw, Seth turned to Sarah and said "Give us the knife, and any other ones you have, please. We don't any more violence."

Sarah looked at the knife in her hand, shining oddly, then sighed and said "Fine. There aren't any others, I don't know where Holly got this one." She dropped it into Seth's outstretched hand, but he howled and dropped it.

He swore and grasped his hand, which seemed to have been burnt by the hilt of the dagger. Sarah looked at the knife with interest and picked it up, feeling nothing; no pain. "Some kind of spell, I guess. Very interesting. Never seen this before." She murmured to herself.

Seth scowled and held out a bag. "In here." Sarah reluctantly dropped it in as a sprite left on the ridge yelled out something she couldn't quite hear.

"What was that?" she asked the nearest sprite, who happened to be Stein.

"The second transport's here. The first one's already taken the other squad away. Those inexperienced idiots." he said scornfully. "The only reasons they're out here is because their parents happen to be well-placed and very rich. Anyway, come on. Bring your friend, if Cater's done with him."

Holly and Trouble swung their bags onto their backs, each grabbed one of Sebastian's arms and dragged him upright, checking if he was OK. Other than the colourful bruise and being unable to walk totally straight, he seemed to be fine, if extremely annoyed. Holly muttered something under her breath about having told him so several times about his smart mouth getting him into trouble. Trouble chose not to comment on the irony of Holly Short saying something like that.

Sarah picked her bag up and put it on. Something poked into her back and she realized with a jolt that it was the onyx box. In the excitement, she'd forgotten that she still had it. She smiled to herself. Even if they _were_ in the custody of the Cobh clan, they were all relatively unharmed, they had their bags (and all the supplies they needed in them), almost all of Sebastian's formidable armoury, they had the box, and now they were getting moved out of this desolate place, probably closer to the Pendant. Things were looking _up_.

**And for once we end on a _happy_ note. Don't get used to it.**

**Reviewish Stuff: **

**Liaranne: Caffeine is v. fun. And I have read every single Terry Pratchett book I can get my hands on and own 13. I ordered Monstrous Regiment on Amazon. Love it. Am reading for third time. Terry Pratchett rocks.**

** My friend's grandmother has an unhealthy love of poker. I based Sarah's gran on the original one. Yes, in my imagination, he looks v. hot. Now, if I could get someone to make a movie of my story, and cast really hot guys in it . . . ah well, I can dream.**

** I made them surrender because it's what people expect them NOT to do. So of course I did that, which is what I do all the time, meaning I did what people SHOULD (bit don't) expect. See? The world makes sense again. Yes, the pile of feathers goes soon. Like in four chappies. Or three. Or five. Can't remember. Soon anyway. Yes, I injure myself a lot. I have it down to an art.**

**Adele Starminster: Good idea, could work. But I've got it planned now. Can't tell you though ;)**

**Waves-Sama: My exams start in a week. I think I'll do OK. Unless I fall asleep half-way through one, like at January exams. Algebra is so boring, don't you agree?**

**Mad Sam: V. bizarre. I like it.**

**BeatlesLover: I live in Europe. Perhaps I don't know you, since you always update at around three AM, my time. Still, you could be n insomniac like me. Never mind. That little sign doohicky? It's an X-wing fighter, from Star Wars. **

**Meaghan: Tempting. Very tempting. But alas, I've already written the death scene. Well, most. Even though it's about a paragraph. But still.**

**Darklight Ascendant: I did yours, didn't I?**

**Adele Starminster: Other really odd and random thing: Sarah's a warped me, with a bit of my sister thrown in. Though I've given up on the conspiracy thing now, and have accepted the fact that I know no one on ff.net, or else I'd wonder if I know you.**

**Adele Starminster: laughs A lot of people are trying to interpret the first stanza of the prophecy. Here's the deal: I wrote it to apply to one thing, and one thing only. It CAN be applied to many things (like the four), but I didn't write it for that. I'm enjoying all the theories, most of which make me think "Damn, why didn't _I_ think of that?" The thing it applies to comes into play in a while. A long while.**

**Maria: Wow. Long review. Sorry I can't answer it all, but I'm working fast here, so I can update before dinner. I'm sitting in continental Europe. Don't you love it here? Rain 99.8% of the time, crazy people banging on your doors campaigning to oust Bush (Jesus people, he's on the other side of the world) and what has been officially recognized as the worst driving in the world. Right here in little old Belgium. Still, they have nice frites.**

**Wulfie: Thanks. That helped ;) It's not really bizarre. Though most things Sarah does are bizarre.**

**Mirkwoodmage: Your review made me post. Everyone, thank this person (dunno if you're male or female). Can I get a hallelujah? **

**REVIEW!!!**


	28. Mutiny On The Good Ship Cobh

**A/N SCHOOL IS FINISHED FOR NINE WHOLE WEEKS!!! And I got nothing lower than an A- on my exams. Life is good. So here's the promised update.**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN**

Cater gestured to Stein to come over to him. Cater leant forwards and said quietly "The box isn't there. We looked in the approximate area where she dropped it, but the lake is shallow all around the shore. It's thirty feet out before the water gets deeper than six feet. A current could have pulled it anywhere, even past the drop-off. We need to do the summoning spell."

Stein, who knew a bit about the spell, shook his head. "It's not meant to be done twice by the same person. It won't work. We need another warlock to do it."

Cater sighed and nodded. "How soon can we get one here?"

Stein winced. "We'd need to get the spell itself from the Kobalt, and I think we'd need an experienced warlock. I know the kid did it herself, but she's obviously tired and besides, she's the Caster, she has more magic than most warlocks."

"Tell me straight out. How long?"

Stein thought, then said "A day at the earliest." Cater sighed, but nodded.

"Do it. Tarcil won't be happy with the delay, but it's the best we can do. Stay and organize it. I can't stay, I don't want to leave Oppel in charge of these four. You saw what he did to the boy who answered back." Cater sighed again.

Stein nodded and said quietly "I didn't think it would be like this. The way Tarcil spoke, I was expecting a bunch of cut-throats, not . . . not four kids all alone in the middle of nowhere. Still," he smiled "they did rather well. I've been hoping the rich rookies would be getting a drubbing from _someone_ sometime soon."

Cater grinned and nodded. "See you, Stein. Good luck."

"You too. Oh, by the way. That girl? Not the one who pulled the knife, the other one, the one who looks like Niamh? I think I met her father once. He was a supply runner, from the Haven chutes to above ground. Just so you know. He knew about us, stumbled onto a patrol, I think, but never told anyone. He was killed on a run, about ten years ago, somewhere in Australia, the channels said."

Cater looked amused. "You still follow the undergrounds' news channels? Anyway, thanks for that. Could come in useful. Let's go."

"Good luck." Stein said, then turned and jogged over to join the two squad members being left with him, the Cobh equivalents of a sprite and an elf. Cater boarded the transport and closed the door behind him.

Trouble looked around him with interest. It was a strange craft, which had unshielded out of nowhere. It was something of a cross between a train, with different compartments linked together, and a shuttle, shaped like a tear drop. It was a sickly grey colour, which seemed to blend in with most environments. The inside was much like a shuttle, two lines of seats, two seats in a row, on either side of a wide aisle.

The remaining squad members had had a hearty welcome by the two pilots and another three guards. They had discussed the job, then everyone turned to watch the teenagers board, the Cobhs who hadn't seen them yet very interested.

Sebastian came first, a scowling punk with sparks flying over his face, fixing up a colourful bruise on his jaw and a burn mark across his cheek. One of the new guards, deciding this one needed watching, grabbed him by the collar, intending to escort him to his seat, but instead found himself lying on his back, flat on the floor, seeing stars and Sebastian rubbing his knuckles.

Holly came next, rolled her eyes at the scene, then grabbed Sebastian's arm and plonked him down in a window seat, herself beside him. She surveyed the interior of the craft with suspicion, and the other passengers with even more suspicion, who were staring even more than they had at Sebastian.

Sarah entered, yawning, and sat down in the row across from Holly and Sebastian. She put her bag on the seat nearest the window and stretched herself full length across both seats, her head on her bag, and promptly fell asleep.

Trouble, scowling at the guards, took the seat in front of Sebastian, by the window. He turned and surveyed the guards, then asked "How long is the journey?"

"About an hour." Seth replied. Trouble turned to look out the window, pulling out some food from his bag, starving after their exploits. Cater entered, closed the door behind him and nodded at the pilots. "Let's get going. Set course for Ebinur Hu."

"Right, boss." one of them grinned.

"Excuse me Cater, but I believe _I_ will give the orders around here." a cool voice from the back of the craft said firmly. Holly and Trouble spun around to see an angry-looking Oppel making his way forwards.

"_I'm_ the squad leader, and _I_ say we cuff the prisoners, throw them in the back and set course for Hyargas Nuur." Oppel said in a voice that he was obviously trying to keep calm.

"But Oppel, that's a prison!" Seth burst out.

"Quiet!" Oppel snapped. He turned his focus on Cater. "Well? Get moving! Turn this craft around!" Cater didn't budge, and the pilots appeared to have gone deaf. Oppel made an odd growling noise in his throat and took a step forwards. "_Now_, Cater." he said dangerously "Now, before I get _really_ angry and kill someone."

Cater looked at him for another moment, then turned slightly and said to the crew and squad "I am taking temporary control of the squad and this operation, as Oppel appears to have succumbed to insanity. Temporary, I'm sure." They all nodded, keeping their eyes on Oppel.

Oppel gave a little smile that lifted the corners of his mouth perhaps a centimetre or two and said "This is a dangerous game you're playing, Cater. Tarcil told me to take them to Hyargas Nuur, should they be dangerous."

"But they're not." Cater said softly.

"_For Frond's sake, Cater_! They're undergrounds! They're Tarlang's descendants and they're trying to take the Pendant from us!" Oppel roared. He strode forwards, pulling a gun from his belt. "If you can't face up to it, _you're_ the one who's insane" he sneered. He lifted the gun, but tripped over the leg Holly had innocently stretched out into the aisle. Even before Oppel hit the ground, the squad was moving, and three of them grabbed Oppel before he could push himself up.

They pulled him upright, twisting and squirming and yelling, then cuffed his hands behind his back and dragged him off to the back of the craft. They returned a moment later and saluted to Cater, making their loyalties clear. Cater nodded at them and they sat down.

He looked up and smiled at Holly. "Thanks for that." She nodded, a little surprised by the apparent mutiny that she'd just witnessed.

Cater turned to the squad. "What I said before stands. You know Oppel, he's liable to fly into a temper anytime, but he's totally gone now. You saw him attack a child. We're going to Ebinur Hu, to turn these kids over to Kristof. He'll know what to do." Cater hesitated, then said "Hands up who favours Tarcil over anything anyone might say." No one raised their hands.

He looked around, then sighed. "Come on guys. I'm not going to shoot you for it. OK, hands up who would report someone for expressing doubts about Tarcil's leadership?" Again, no one raised their hands. Cater smiled. "So I've got a squad full of rebels and dissenters?" Several people smiled.

Cater nodded and said "OK, here it is. Tarcil told us that we should expect people who'd kill on sight, no questions asked, with a back-up of LEP officers, proving that all the undergrounds were in on this."

Trouble looked up and said "Question, please. What's an underground?"

"It's the name we use for the fairies who live underground. Not Cobhs." Seth replied for Cater. Trouble nodded and settled back in his seat again.

Cater continued. "So that's what Tarcil told us. And what did we find? Four kids. _Kids_, for Frond's sake. Who _returned_ fire, they didn't start it, after they'd been betrayed by that idiot bird. Where is Casper, by the way?" Cater asked.

They all shrugged. "I think he said he was going to see Tarcil." someone in the back volunteered. Cater winced, but picked up his speech again.

"OK, so maybe Tarcil was wrong. But he was dead-on about everything else; the Kobalt, Casper, the prophecy, he even knew exactly which lake to go to. Innocent mistake? Maybe. But I doubt it. I don't know what we can do, except be careful."

He turned to Holly, Trouble and Sebastian (Sarah was, amazingly, still sleeping like the dead) and said "I don't know what Tarcil intends to do with you, but you have my word I'll do everything I can to make sure you're not hurt. Things just don't jive; your version and Tarcil's don't fit together. I don't know you four, but I know Tarcil, and I wouldn't put it past him to elaborate a bit to get what he wants."

With that, Cater sat down. Trouble hesitated, then turned and whispered to Holy and Sebastian. "Do you think we should tell him our version? The truth?" Holly thought about it, then nodded.

"Just don't tell him where Sarah dropped the box in the lake. That will buy us some time." she replied.

Sebastian sat up straighter and said, so quietly they almost didn't hear him, "I agree with Holly. Don't look like that, Holly, I'm trying to be nice here, work with me. Anyway, about the box. Even if Cater's against Tarcil, he's still out for the Pendant, until we convince him that what we say is true. Anyone got a copy of the prophecy? He should see it, they all should, so they know what's really happening, and why we're here."

Trouble dug in his bag and pulled out a print-out of the prophecy, with Rowan and Foaly's notes scrawled in the margins. Holly's heart gave a pang when she saw her father's familiar handwriting. She wondered how he was doing right now. Then she remembered something that made her sit up straighter.

She still had Rowan's crystal. Anyone on her father's team could track her, and the other three. So where was Ash?

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Mirkwoodmage: Ah, a girl, I apologize. Oppel isn't really like Root, because he's evil. Root just shouts a lot.**

**Maria: Yes, you can have another cookie for giving such long and nice reviews. Seth is good. And nice. Oppel's kid is not mentioned again. Well, he might be, but I doubt it. The magic on the knife will be explained . . sometime. I can't vote in the US elections because 1) I'm not a US citizen (and damn proud of it! GO CANADA! AND IRELAND!), 2) I live in Europe (don't believe a word people might tell you about this place, it's _nice_ over here. Well, if you speak the language) and 3) I don't even want to. None of them really whip me into a democratic frenzy and make me want to hop on a plane and go vote for some dingbat on the other side of the pond. Frites are . . what do you call them over there? French fries? I think so.**

**Mad Sam: I like Seth and Cater too, and Oppel is an imbecilic dingbat, in my opinion. YES! THANK YOU! SOMEONE sees what I am trying to convey. The Cobhs are OK. Things aren't just black and white in the world, there's gray too.**

**BeatlesLover: I live in western Europe. Get out your atlas and find Belgium. I live outside of Bruxelles, Brussels in English, methinks. Where do you live on the east coast? I think BeatlesLover is good. Short, sweet and right to the point. Unlike my story, which seems to be dragging on FOREVER . . .**

**Waves-Sama: Yes, I do fall asleep in Algebra and to my eternal embarrassment I fell asleep during the exam period because I finished half an hour ahead of everyone else.**

**Darklight Ascendant: It was being healed. But they're running low, so it wasn't going all that fast. Yes, I think Oppel is a good character to keep around. I was going to kill him off, but he's too much fun to write ;)**

**REVIEW!!!**


	29. Bloody boxes

**A/N Bien, the next two/three chapters are sorta slow, but then the pace picks up again and we hurtle right on to the ending, but don't ask me how long 'till then because I have no concrete answer.**

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**CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT**

_So where was Ash?_

Ash Vein was _not_ in a good mood. His best friend was in a coma, the bureaucrats here in the shuttle port underneath a city somewhere in southern Russia were in an especially vindictive mood, the lines to Police Plaza weren't connecting and time was disappearing. Once more, he tried to be patient and civil to the secretary on the other end of the phone line.

"Look, just _tell_ Commander Root that it's Ash Vein. He'll want to talk with me, I assure you."

"The commander is in a budget meeting." the secretary said snidely.

"So interrupt it!"

"It's a _meeting_, and I wasn't invited." The secretary was sounding bored.

"So get invited! Break the door down! Listen, lady, this is important!"

"I'm sure it is. But it'll wait." she replied calmly.

"NO IT WON'T! CONNECT ME RIGHT NOW OR SO HELP ME I'LL-" Ash was yelling so loudly he didn't hear the click as the frightened secretary finally connected him to Root.

"Vein? STOP SHOUTING!" Root roared on the other end, shutting Ash up.

"Oh, uh, sorry, Commander." Ash mumbled.

"It's fine. Now, tell me what's happening." Root said briskly. Ash filled him in, then waited as the commander was silent. Then he heard Root put the phone down and yell at the people in the room to get out THIS INSTANT, then as Root swore at an empty room (except Foaly, who'd hung behind to find out if everything was going well). Finally, Root picked the phone up again.

"Vein, this is not good. You're telling me that Short is in a _coma_ and these four kids are moving _on their own_ in the _middle of nowhere_?"

"Yes sir, that's what's happening. What do you want me to do?"

Root was silent, then Ash heard him filling Foaly in on events. Root turned back to the phone and growled "Get after them. I'll try and find an excuse to send a team up after you. I won't tell the Council if I can help it, they'll panic and try and implement their only plan of action for emergencies: raise taxes." Root sighed. "How's Short doing now?" he asked after a pause.

Ash sighed as well. "The only thing that they can figure out is that he's in a coma, like I told you. They're trying to get him below ground to better facilities as soon as possible. He'll probably pull through again, though they're not sure. Timing is everything."

Root nodded to himself, then said "All right. Get moving. Try not to get hurt. Have fun." he added dryly.

"I'm sure I will. Bye." Ash hung up, then headed off to have another stab at trying to get clearance to get back to the surface.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Holly and Sebastian were giving Cater, Seth and the squad a crash course in Amiel's two prophecies, the Pendant of Halifirien, the "lost" Cobh clan (this bit the Cobhs found most amusing) and Tarlang's unknown descendant.

Trouble was slipping in and out of sleep and Sarah was still dead to the world. Trouble jerked up as the craft swerved to avoid something. He yawned and looked around blearily. Holly and Sebastian were still at it. Sarah was still asleep, head on her bag, which was slipping open. Trouble noticed a corner of something black and shiny poking out of the open top of the bag.

With a jolt, he realized it was the onyx box. But that should be in the lake, he thought, confused. He glanced up at the squad, who were discussing whether or not the Pendant was really worth all the effort involved to find it. Trouble slid across his seat, then dived across the aisle without being seen.

Sarah woke up abruptly when something landed heavily on her feet and shins. She opened her mouth to say something angrily, but someone put their hand over her mouth. She opened her eyes and saw Trouble holding a finger to his lips. She nodded and he let go of her.

"What?" she whispered irritably.

"The box." Trouble hissed back.

"What about it?" Sarah yawned.

"It's in your bag!"

"I know."

"Well what's it doing there?!"

"Calm down, Trub. I dropped something else in the lake so that everyone'd think that I dropped the box in. Worked, didn't it?"

He nodded, forgetting to snap that he didn't like being called Trub. He smiled suddenly. "This is good." he whispered excitedly. "We've got the box, these guys seem to be sort of on our side and now we can figure out what to do next."

Sarah yawned and asked "How long 'till we get to this Ebinur Hu place?"

"It's a lake. Another one. All we seem to do is go from one lake to another." Trouble replied absently, staring out the window. "Another half hour, I think. This craft is pretty fast."

Sarah nodded and settled back on her bag, until Trouble said "Don't sleep, we need to open the box and find out what to do next. I'll need your help if the box has to be opened by magic."

Sarah grumbled to herself, but sat up and slid properly into the window seat, Trouble beside her. She pulled her bag onto her lap and opened it all the way. Trouble glanced nervously to the front of the craft. "Should we be doing this in full view of everyone else?" he wondered aloud.

Sarah shrugged. "We could barricade ourselves in the bathroom, but there's probably only room for one. Just keep an eye on them and tell me if someone's coming." Trouble nodded and kept his eyes on the squad at the front, who were now arguing who had been the greatest prophet of all time.

Sarah slid the box out of her bags and placed it on top of her bag. She ran her fingers around the sides and tried to lift the lid off. It moved half a centimetre, then wouldn't budge. She hissed at Trouble "It's locked."

"So unlock it already." was the reply. Sarah rolled her eyes and read the inscription on the top in a whisper.

"_Stab me not, drown me do,_

_Or my secret will be known anew._

_But if blood flows, letters are drawn_

_Telling a story once told in song._"

Trouble waited for a minute for Sarah to continue, but when she didn't, he hissed "Is that it?"

"_Yes_." came the irritable reply. "I think there's another inscription, but it's too shallow, I can't read it even if I tilt it to catch the light." Sarah thought for a minute, trying to understand the short stanza. "It's in a song." she whispered to Trouble. "A song tells us how to unlock it. Think of a song you know that might apply."

Trouble frowned, thinking, then replied quietly "It says _once_ told in song, doesn't it? That means it isn't anymore, or the song's been forgotten. That won't work."

Sarah sighed. "You're right. We'll have to do it the blood way. Let blood flow. But what blood? Whose? Let it flow where?" she muttered, frustrated, half to herself.

She murmured the stanza to herself a few times, then ran her fingers over the top of the box again, feeling the very light carvings near the top, so shallow they might be just scratches. Then she realized.

"Trouble!" she hissed. "I get it! The first bit, "stab me not, drown me do", is about the lake. Because they wanted to get rid of it, but they couldn't do it by stabbing it, so they drowned it, in the lake!" Suddenly, she paled.

"What? Sarah, what's wrong?" Trouble asked concernedly.

"We took it with us! And the parchment letter specifically told us _not_ to! We were supposed to put it back in the lake!"

"That hardly matters anymore, does it? We've already done it and we can't turn around. Anyway, what were you saying before, about the first part?" Trouble replied.

Sarah cleared her throat, still a little worried, then continued. "They put it in the lake so that its secret wouldn't be known. The _second_ bit is how to open it. _But if blood flows, letters are drawn, telling a secret once told in song._ You know I told you there are shallow markings near the top? The only way to read them, I realized, is by filling them with sand or some kind of liquid, preferably a strong colour, to contrast with the black stone. We did it in art class once."

Comprehension dawned in Trouble's eyes. "So we have to fill those shallow carvings with blood, and we'll be able to read the inscription that will tell us how to open the box!" He frowned. "But does it have to be blood? That's a bit gruesome. Can't we just use sand, like you said? Or some coloured water?"

Sarah shook her head. "It says blood, so we'll have to use blood. Ours, probably, since we're the ones opening it. Me, you, Holly and Sebastian." She saw the look on Trouble's face. "It's only a short inscription, and there's four of us to bleed. You won't have to give too much blood." she assured him.

He shrugged, then Sarah asked "Should we go get the others?"

Trouble shook his head and said "No, just some blood. Don't want to attract attention. I'll go. Got a bottle or something? For the blood?" Sarah dug in her bag and pulled out a water bottle.

"It shouldn't matter if they get mixed together. Put it in the bathroom and tell Holly and Seb to go and put some blood in it." she said and handed over the empty bottle. Trouble nodded and headed to the back of the craft, where the bathroom was. He wedged the bottle underneath the sink, then headed to the front of the craft.

He tapped Sebastian, who was dozing at the side of the group, on the shoulder and whispered "Don't ask, just do it. Go to the bathroom, there's an empty bottle underneath the sink. Use your knife to cut yourself and put a bit of blood in the bottle. Then come back and give Holly the knife. Don't let the Cobhs see." Sebastian, to his credit, didn't blink, just got up and went to the back, though this may have had something to do with the fact that he was half-asleep.

He returned a few minutes later, and discreetly handed Holly the slightly bloody knife. Trouble, who had already told Holly what to do, was sitting back with Sarah. In five minutes, all four of them had gone and bled themselves. Sarah, the last to go, returned triumphantly with the bottle and the knife, the latter which she gave back to Sebastian, who cleaned it on a piece of paper which he then threw away under a seat.

Sarah glanced up at the Cobhs. They hadn't noticed Sebastian and Holly leave, or hadn't minded. Now they seemed to be arguing politics. Sarah pulled the onyx box back onto her lap, not hearing Holly's "Ah-_ha_" of understanding. She heard Trouble explain what the inscription said and meant, and why Sarah was holding a bottle of their blood.

Sarah shook the bottle around, trying not to look at its gruesome contents. She gazed thoughtfully at the box, then knelt on the floor and put the box in front of her. Now she had a flat surface. She carefully and slowly poured the blood over the lid, careful not to spill any on the floor. Luckily, there was a raised border around the edge of the box, to make sure nothing spilled.

Slowly, she saw the markings begin to take shape. She poured some more blood over it. She sat back on her heels and tilted her head. They didn't make sense. She frowned, then realized that she was looking at the top half of three sentences, the letters cut in half. She trailed her fingers over the bottom of the lid, and found some more carvings, so shallow as to be almost invisible.

She tipped the bottle and poured the last of the blood over the inscriptions. Sure enough, it was the bottom half of the sentences. She grinned and put the bottle back in her bag, making sure the lid was tight. She heard Trouble scribbling the sentences down.

Just then, she heard someone, right in front of her, say cheerfully "We're almost ther- _what are you doing?_"

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Liaranne: Yeah, I never like it when the "bad guys" are mindless killing machines, never act human. So I made the Cobhs seem natural. Oppel is such fun to write. That's why I'm not killing him off straightaway. Casper's death scene is very short, bleak, not lots of description and exulting. And it happens . . . next chapter? Yup, next chapter. Be prepared for a low-key exit.**

**Living in Belgium is good, but you never get over the lack of easily accessible TV shows in your own language. But the people are nice, once you get over what has been officially declared the WORST driving in the WORLD. And I'm learning how to drive here -**

**Maria: Thirteen weeks? Lucky. Still, we get loads of holidays in the year: three weeks at Christmas, two weeks at Easter, two weeks at Hallowe'en, can't remember the rest. A drubbing = a beating. Irish wossname, expression, I think. Nah, Ebinur Hu, Hyargas Nur, Gaxun Nur are all real places in Mongolia. Thank my grandparents for giving us that National Geographic atlas, even if it does weigh half a ton. Cater is indeed "good". You like Seth, then? **

**Europe _does_ have a lot more culture than the Americas, but since I've spent my whole life over here, I wouldn't know what it's like over there, except for whole summers spent in Canada. Ireland _is_ nice. Or used to be. A lotta crime now. Well, more than before.**

**Mirkwoodmage: Someone you knew lived here? Did they go to ISB? I probably didn't know them, 's a big place, Brussels.**

**BeatlesLover: Sure, whatever you want. I don't live exactly in Bruxelles anyways, so my precious anonymity is intact ;) Ja, ja, BeatlesLover is fine. Just so. And Oppel's staying this way, methinks, he works well this way, since we need another bastard now that Casper's parti. Really? Cater and Seth seem nice? Yes, I pulled it off! I was a bit leery of trying to convince readers that the "bad guys" aren't so bad after all. It worked, then? You like Cater and Seth? Ah. Oh dear. Brace yourself for Chapter 31.**

**Mad Sam: Thank you, thank you. I like the Cobhs too. And you're not that odd.**

**Waves-Sama: Bad exams? Unless you're in Grade 9 or 12 or in university, it shouldn't matter all that much, unless you're moving schools. If not, screw exams, they don't count all that much.**

**Thank you all for nice comments re: the Cobhs, I was worried that I wouldn't pull it off, making them seem nice and all, when they're supposed to be the bad guys. Review, please.**


	30. Falling Birds

**A/N Yes, updates every few days is probably the next course of action. May I also take the time to make an announcement to save some people some trouble that they appear to enjoy going to:**

**About the FIRST VERSE OF THE PROPHECY (AND THE WHOLE SHEBANG IN GENERAL): I wrote it as a nice bit of poetry. I REALIZE that it can be applied to many things (the Pendant, the four), but I only realized this after several readers took it upon themselves to try and decipher the entire prophecy, using what my Maths teacher calls the "guess and check" method.**

**I thoroughly enjoy reading all theories, so by all means, keep sending them, you're getting closer to the wossname, true meaning doohicky (of the whole prophecy, mind, not just the first verse). One person got it, and I told them so, and another came close, and I told them so as well. I just wanted to let you all know that I can't give you the answer to what the first verse means, since I don't know myself. **

**Oh yes, and this is also to chapter where Casper dies. It takes up all of one sentence. Enjoy.**

**CHAPTER TWENTY NINE**

Tarcil was sitting at his desk, drumming his fingers on the mahogany wood as he waited for that blasted bird to show up. He heaved a sigh and half-heartedly checked his e-mail for any news. Nothing new. He was waiting for a report from Oppel, about the four children they should have captured by now.

He frowned as once again he wondered if he should have sent that team. Oppel was a fanatic follower of the Cobh clan; he would do anything to protect it or improve its fortunes, but he was extremely dangerous and possibly unhinged. And Cater, well, Cater was a wild card. He seemed to care more for the people than the ideal of the Cobh clan; independent, better than the rest. He could prove to be an opponent, he needed to be watched.

And the rest of the squad, while they were varied in background, all seemed open-minded. Perhaps _too_ open-minded for this mission, when what Tarcil wanted was unwavering loyalty in the face of change. He sighed again, then pushed the human-fairy hybrid laptop away.

At that moment, a shadow fell across his desk and he looked up and saw Casper, missing quite a few feathers, fly through the open window. Casper landed on the back of the chair facing Tarcil's desk. He ruffled his feathers and preened himself for a moment before turning his attention to Tarcil.

Tarcil gazed at Casper's changed appearance and asked amusedly "What happened?"

Casper grimaced and replied "One of those children tried to kill me."

Tarcil smiled and said "Well you can hardly blame them, can you? You did betray them, after all."

"On _your_ orders." Casper replied sharply.

Tarcil ignored this comment and said expectantly "Well? What can you tell me about them? We only talked briefly that first night you spent in the Kobalt with the four. So, what are they like? Do you think they would have succeeded, had you not intervened?"

Casper thought for a while before replying. "I think they would have succeeded. They are . . ." he gestured with a wing "-unlike any children or fairies I have met before. They have a habit of getting into trouble, but another, even greater habit, for getting out of it almost unscathed. It is uncanny. They complain, of course, about what they must do, but they do it anyway. And then their bond. . . three of them have been best friends since childhood, and the fourth only joined them when this started, so that creates friction, but they, I am amazed to say, have _fun_ while doing this."

Tarcil nodded. "And their personalities?"

Casper thought, then replied "Holly, the Reader and the one who shot me, is determined and very brave. It is her father who accompanied them for a while. Her temper is unpredictable, but this can help her in intense situations.

"Sarah, the Caster, is very powerful, though none of them know it yet. She performed the onyx spell without passing out, and she has powerful instincts. She usually pays no attention, day-dreaming all the time, which is annoying to no end, but she is surprisingly good in a crisis.

"Trouble, the Dreamer, also has great instincts, though he is much more of a believer in following them, as opposed to Holly and Sarah, who are more cautious. He is loyal and protective of his friends. He is a very powerful prophet, though he has not yet mastered how to interpret his dreams totally.

"Sebastian, the Protector, is the newcomer, who knows none of the others, yet he is the one who must look after them. Ironic, no? He had grown up largely on the streets; he is a criminal, an unsavoury character at first sight. But he is fiercely loyal, like Trouble, excellent in combat and is unafraid of most things. He also has a temper and a habit of pushing people's buttons.

"Surprisingly, they are all loyal to each other, even though they bicker like toddlers. A formidable team, they work excellently together. I say this, if they were adults and sure of themselves, we would have lost the Pendant before we even started."

Tarcil nodded, staring off into the distance. He smiled suddenly, then turned back to Casper and said "I told Oppel, the leader of the squad I sent, to take them to Hyargas Nuur if they were dangerous. He is highly paranoid, so they must be almost there by now. I will go there now." He stood up, then remembered something and asked Casper "Who is the heir?"

"That's the problem. They don't know. Two of them, Trouble and Sebastian, are shape shifters, though Trouble only found out in this past week, and Sarah bears a resemblance to Niamh, Tarlang and Cobh's mother. Your guess is as good as mine as to who the heir is."

Tarcil frowned. "That's unfortunate. I shall see you soon, I expect. Goodbye." With that, Tarcil shifted into the shape of an eagle and left the way Casper had entered. Casper poked around for a bit, then left as well, looking forward to seeing the teenagers behind bars. As he flew out the window, the wind ruffled his feathers and he felt happy again, for the first time in days.

He never saw the eagle swoop down on him from above; never felt the claws tearing through his flesh; never heard himself cry out as he fell, tumbling through the air, ripped to pieces.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Sebastian's fist had gone flying before any of them knew it, but then he pulled it short and grabbed Seth's collar instead and pulled him down onto the seat beside him and dug into his pocket. He held a knife loosely by his side and hissed at Seth to pretend everything was normal.

Holly elbowed Sebastian and said "Stop scaring him. Here, give me the knife." Sebastian reluctantly handed over the weapon. Holly turned to Trouble and said "You can explain."

Trouble sighed, but quickly described what had happened and why the box was on the floor, with blood on it. Seth nodded, understanding it all quickly, then glanced at the knife Holly was holding. She put it in her pocket and said "Look, they're handing us over to someone. As long as we're prisoners, you're against us. We don't want to give the box up, or else Tarcil will be able to find the Pendant. We're serious when we say if he uses it it'll destroy the world."

Seth sighed and said "I guess I have to believe you. When kids are pulling knives, it must be important."

"No, that's just Seb." Sarah said absently.

Sebastian glared at her. "It's Sebastian. And I didn't know it was Seth until after I gave the knife to Holly. I thought it was someone who'd cuff us."

Seth smiled, then asked "So what's in the box?"

Sarah shrugged. "We don't know yet, you sorta interrupted at a bad time. Can I get on with it now?" They all nodded and Sarah read the three sentences quietly, out loud. "_He who invented it, didn't want it. He who buys it, doesn't need it. He who needs it, doesn't know it._"

"That's easy." Trouble said immediately. "My dad told me that one the other day. It's a coffin." They all made understanding noises, then one by one, jerked their heads towards the box as they realized what it meant.

Sarah sidled away from the box. "So that's a coffin?"

"For a mouse, maybe." Sebastian said. "It's pretty small. Come on, open it."

"How? We know the answer, but it didn't open when we said the word. We have to say something else." Trouble replied.

"Well," Sarah said doubtfully "we _could_ do some sort of funeral rite. Like from the Booke."

"Try it, that might work." Holly said. Sarah nodded and tried to remember what had been said at her father's funeral. She closed her eyes, then spoke the short passage, lacing the word with magic as she spoke them. She opened her eyes at the end of it, and smiled as she heard a faint _click_. She lifted the lid off the box and placed it on the floor, noticing with surprise that the stone seemed to have absorbed the blood like a sponge.

They all craned their necks to look into the box, which Sarah lifted onto the seat, then recoiled. On top of a few parchments sheets, excellently preserved, lay what was unmistakeably a fairy jaw bone. Sebastian hemmed and said "Well, that's interesting. Wonder whose it is?" And he reached out his hand to pick it up.

At that moment, something very near the craft exploded and they were all thrown out of their seats.

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Mirkwoodmage: Ah, I understand.**

**Adele Starminster: A) Thank you. I only do it because I enjoy reading the reviews form enraged readers. B) See the thingamajigger at the top. And C) (I'm adding this), congratulations on reading the prologue and actually retaining anything until now. Since it makes no sense by itself, most people skip it or forget about it. But the prologue's important.**

**The Critique: See top re: first verse of the prophecy. Expect an e-mail zooming your way. Thanks.**

**Liaranne: Thanks. Did you like Casper's death? And I don't think it'll finish really soon. I dunno. Two weeks? I have no clue, I just know that I'm nearing the conclusion quickly.**

**BeatlesLover: But I LOVE writing cliff-hangers because of all the irate reviews I get. Expect more. Soon. Like . . . the end of this chapter. And also, do you make a habit of reading reviews to other people's stories? Just wondering, it seemed kinda odd to me. And yes, I handled the questions just fine, your concern is appreciated. And they didn't make me feel like my story wasn't good enough, they were just . . . questions, not opinions. I have no problem with criticism, just as long as it's helpful.**

**That Aerin: The prologue was REALLY short, then the chapters were REALLY long up until about 12 or 13, then I cut them in half and it's all good now. For the bit where you were confused, I quote "Holly (who was a pretty good skateboarder) was teaching Sarah how to skateboard in the skate park near their school." So there you go. Hope that cleared things up. And for your last review, keep reading, I focus on the others afterwards. Hope you like the rest of it.**

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**REVIEWS, PLEASE.**


	31. Out Of The Dark, Into The Night

**A/N I have no real excuse for not updating, so I won't waste your time trying to think of one. I would also like to thank everyone who helped me hit 200 reviews. Muchisimas gracias.**

**Oh, and a belated Happy Canada Day to you all.**

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**CHAPTER THIRTY**

Cater jumped up off the floor and glanced wildly around. One of the pilots was unconscious, the other yelling frantically. His squad was all over the place, some bleeding from where they'd hit something, others totally unconscious. There was supplies and furniture _everywhere_. Almost every single one of the many cabinets and storage units in the craft had been thrown open and now the passengers were knee and sometimes _waist_ deep in the contents that the Cobhs had carefully packed to last them up to four months in desolate regions.

Cater grasped a sprite's shoulder and pulled him out from under a chair that had been uprooted, mind racing. Why were they being attacked? What did they have that someone else wanted? The answer, blindingly obvious, hit him and he dropped the sprite into someone else's arms and raced for the very back of the craft.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

At the back of the craft were a number of large crates, which had split open and spilled their contents all over the place, adding to the mess and confusion. Sebastian threw several large guns off himself and took in the scene. The craft was still flying, but barely. There was a long jagged dent in the side of it further ahead and at least half of the seats had been ripped up and thrown around, not to mention anything loose in the compartments.

He looked around for the others, saw Seth looking dazed, but no one else. Sebastian stood up and waded into the rubble, at some parts up to his waist and started digging, wondering where the _hell_ all this stuff had come from. He looked up as something fell on his head and noticed that there were large cupboards above his head, running the length of the craft on either wall, almost all of which had been thrown open. He wondered for second why the Cobhs _needed_ all this stuff, then shrugged and turned back to the task at hand.

Sebastian found an arm and pulled a soaking wet Trouble out from under several large (and recently emptied) water containers. He checked him over for broken bones, then pushed him towards another large pile and told him to look for Holly or Sarah. Just then, a large metal plate threw itself upwards and Holly stood up, spitting small screws.

Holly stood up and had to laugh at the scene. Imagine a flood. Then replace the water with weird kitchen appliances, food, miscellaneous hardware equipment, every type of food imaginable and many large and dangerous-looking weapons.

She saw a drenched Trouble pull Sarah to her feet, then Sebastian noticed her and come over. "All right?"

Holly tired to stop smiling, then said "Yup. You?"

"Just peachy." he replied with a wince. Holly looked around again and asked "Uh, what happened?"

Sebastian shrugged. "Dunno. Either something fired at us, or we brushed an extremely large mine hovering in mid-air." He paused for a second, then said thoughtfully "Or perhaps we passed by an albatross right when it spontaneously combusted."

Holly laughed, then turned to Trouble and Sarah, who'd joined them. "So, what do we do now?" They shrugged and Trouble opened his mouth to say something, when Cater appeared through the door of the compartment, and threw himself at the nearest person (Trouble), roaring "GET DOWN!"

Right when Cater and Trouble hit the floor, something tore through the metal wall of their compartment like it was paper and exploded. The fairies were thrown every which way by this explosion. They were too busy to hear several other such missiles hit other parts of the craft.

Silence descended, except for the roaring of the wind passing through the gaping hole in the side of the compartment, then the craft, un-piloted, the crew unconscious or perhaps dead on the floor, slowed down to a crawl. Then it hit the ground, slid along for a bit, then rolled down a slope, coming to rest in the shadow of a large hill.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Holly groaned and tried to move whatever heavy weight was on her. A moan told her it was a fairy. She pushed whoever it was off of her and sat up, clutching her pounding head. She turned to glare at the person in question, and saw it was Sebastian, who, amazingly, seemed to have sustained no further injury in the firing of the missiles and the craft's crash.

Holly pulled her hand away from her temple and saw blood on it. She felt the blue sparks scurry over to the cut and in a few moments it was healed. Holly frowned as she realized she was running low on magic. She tried to brush the blood off, then gave up and looked around.

The craft was dark, the lights blown. The hole the missile had made was underneath them; the craft was lying on its side. She couldn't see anyone else in the dim light, except for the dark shape she knew to be Sebastian. She shivered in the cold and realized that no light was spilling through the window above her. She moaned and buried her head in her hands. "Not _again_. Why is it always us? Why can't anyone _else_ have permanent bad luck?"

Holly looked at her moonometer and cursed as she saw it was broken. She took Sebastian's wrist and checked his; also broken. She stood up and staggered over to a large pile of rubble, quickly scaling it. She poked her head out the window right above the pile.

The breeze on her face was refreshing, but her stomach knotted when she saw that it was, unquestionably, night. They'd lost half a day, maybe more. Holly climbed quickly back down the pile and over to the still-slumbering Sebastian.

Holly was shivering constantly now. Teeth chattering, she shook Sebastian. He mumbled something, then rolled away from her. She shook him again and he sat bolt upright, growling. The moonlight glinted off his elongated fangs, which he hastily retracted when he saw it was Holly. Sebastian looked around and groaned as Holly explained their predicament.

Sebastian noticed Holly's shivering and dug in his bag, then handed over his trench coat. Holly raised her eyebrows, but was too cold to really mind wearing it.

"Seen any of the others?" Sebastian asked, his breath making a cloud of warm air in the cold night air. Holly shook her head. Sebastian closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Holly, right beside him, cold but determined. Food, everywhere. Earth, beneath him. Water, in a pool over by the door. And . . . Trouble moving towards . . . Sarah?

Sebastian opened his eyes just as Trouble wriggled out from under several uprooted chairs, then carefully pulled an unconscious Sarah after him. Trouble looked up and Holly saw with a jolt that his eyes were shining green with night-vision and that he was sporting fangs as well. Holly jumped forwards and examined Sarah, who had a large bump on her forehead, to distract herself form the eerily unfamiliar sight.

Trouble was rubbing his elbow as he explained to Sebastian how he'd woken up underneath a pile of rubble and had used his heightened senses to find Sarah and get out them from under a large piece of metal.

Holly stood up as the cold air started to wake Sarah up and moved over to Trouble and Sebastian. She stepped on something soft-ish that moved under her foot and something nearby moaned. Trouble was standing beside her in an instant and they both started shifting the various supplies covering the fairy.

In a few minutes, Holly pulled away an extremely heavy book and Cater jumped up, then fell back down with a curse as the pain cut through his side. He landed heavily, dislodging more supplies, and uncovering a miraculously still conscious Seth.

Five minutes later, all six of them were sitting together and eating some food Sarah had found. Cater put down his bottle of water and said abruptly "I've no doubt this was Tarcil's doing. He'll come up with some excuse to justify this attack."

Seth added "We need to get you four away. Say you escaped in the confusion. Something like that. Tarcil's gone too far with this."

Cater nodded slowly, then said "He's right. You should leave. Now. Get a head start. It'll take some time for a squad to come find us, more to find the survivors and clear the wreckage, and even longer to send out another squad after you. Go to wherever you need to go next, we'll cover for you." Seth nodded firmly to show his agreement.

Sarah swallowed her mouthful of food and said "I know where we need to go next. I was awake for a while after the attack, before I passed out. I was thinking about it. Anyways, we have to go to a cemetery, a fairy one, obviously. A Cobh one, I think. To find the rest of that fairy's bones, which are, obviously, in his real coffin."

"But how do we know what fairy it is? All we've got is a jaw bone." Sebastian interjected.

Sarah shrugged. "I haven't read the papers yet. Maybe there'll be something in there. But do you know any cemeteries near here? Cater? Seth?"

The two Cobhs thought, then Seth said "The only one around here is at the Dzungarian Gate. It's a mountain pass not too far from Ebinur Hu. From here, maybe half an hour on wings." The four teenagers looked at each other, then nodded, resigning themselves to what they knew they had to do.

Cater stared off into the distance for a moment, then said abruptly "Take whatever you need from here." He indicated the mountains of supplies with a sweep of his hand, then continued. "We'll say we were on course for Ebinur Hu, no problems from you four, you surrendered without a fight, then we were torpedoed, and you escaped in the resulting chaos."

"But we didn't surrender without a fight." Sebastian pointed out, somewhat annoyed that their previous effort at warfare was being ignored.

"The only one who'd want to disagree with me on that is Oppel, and he's completely unhinged now. My squad will back me up." Cater replied, unperturbed. "This way, anyone else going after you will underestimate you, just like we did, and get a nasty surprise, just like we did." he finished with a smile.

They nodded, then silently began to gather what they thought they'd need in the near future. Trouble looked up from his bag, saw Sarah examining the jaw bone, the open box in front of her and said "We should wait 'till we get somewhere safe before we read the papers. Until we get to the cemetery, I guess." Sarah nodded and replaced the bone in the box, shut it, then placed it carefully in her bag.

She stood up and headed over to the others, at the other end of the compartment, but when she passed Trouble, she murmured "There are markings on the jaw bone. Writing, in Gnommish"

"What did it say?" Trouble hissed back.

"_Follow my words: trust not the pride of the Cobhs_" Sarah replied in a whisper as walked away. Trouble grimaced as he got up to follow her. Just what they needed: more conspiracies.

Cater surveyed Holly, covered in dirt, what could be blood but was most likely ketchup (the Cobhs seemed to have thought of _everything_) and thoughtfully poking at what appeared to be a container of frozen beetles, with a twinkle in his eye. Cater smiled to himself, then sobered and leant forwards, whispering "Come over here, I need to tell you something."

Holly got up and followed him, watching him warily. Cater turned and said quietly "You should know that it is quite possible that I will be killed for this, even if Tarcil doesn't find out I let you go. I didn't follow orders to go to Hyargas Nur, so I will be punished, no matter what I say in my defence. Just know, when you next meet the Cobhs, there might not be anyone friendly hiding among them." Holly looked at Cater for a moment, then nodded. Cater handed over a compass and briefly explained how to use it to find the cemetery.

They walked back over to the others.

The six of them looked at each other awkwardly, then muttered thanks and shook hands, but they were all smiling in the dark. Then the four teenagers put on some wings Seth had found and Holly kicked down the (sideways) door at the end of the craft. They admired the still night sky for a moment, then clumsily started the unfamiliar engines and took to the air.

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**BeatlesLover: I like cliffhangers a lot, in case no one's noticed. Yeah, I read it somewhere. Or maybe someone told me it. I can't remember, I just thought it was a cool riddle. Wow, I know people can get really into a story, but cheering on a villain's death is ever-so-slightly odd. Obsessive, much?**

**I guess the title is OK. It took me about a moment's frustrated thought before I just picked a random phrase. I wanted something eye-catching and that, to draw in readers. But I've never been any good AT ALL at naming my stuff. I don't like labelling things. But my beta's good with titles, so hopefully she'll have something better soon.**

**What was the last bit of the summary? Let me go check. Oh, the demented jewellery bit? Well, I don't know many bits of jewellery that could end the world and force people to battle, but maybe you have? The original second summary was longer, but the damn thing only accepts a certain length.**

**Waves-Sama: All right, I promise to have one of them throw a fit. Ah, Grade 9 exams. What fun. And I've racked my brain, but I don't understand what "colour thing in art class" you mean. Explain?**

**Liaranne: Gah, I keep forgetting that this story is set in the '60s. Still, read that to mean that some plastic-y bits were human made, since I dunno if the Cobhs run a plastic-making factory. I can't tell you who the heir is, only that it keeps changing in my mind because I'm totally happy with it, but now I suppose I know who it is. The riddle? I read it somewhere. Or maybe someone told me it. I can't remember, I just thought it was a cool riddle when I heard it.**

**MyOwnAntagonist: Thanks for taking the time to read it anyways. I'm like that with some fics, I never read them for months, then I zoom through the whole thing. And yes, I have indeed a great love of cliff-hangers.**

**Mad Sam: The wonders of modern technology, eh?**

**Mirkwoodmage: Yup, Tarcil killed Casper. Kinda clichéd, but it worked better than having the equivalent of a fifteen year old kill him, even if he is a bird.**

**MORE REVIEWS, PLEASE.**


	32. Snake Eyes

**A/N Nothing much to say. Send me your thoughts on the event at the end of this chappie. No, you prat, by REVIEW, not thought-wave.**

**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE**

Most people seem to think that the night is silent, and creepy. _Clearly_ they have never been outside after eleven. It's those ghastly crickets chirping at all hours that make it noisy. Not to mention the bats flying into windows, sheds, cats, street lights and cars. It might be creepy to some people, but it's never silent for anyone.

Adding to this, journeys made in the dead of night are always strange _anyway_, especially if one of your travelling companions keeps changing gear the wrong way and doing loop-the-loops. And another is taking apart her Neutrino in mid air. And another is incapable of flying straight, not to mention forwards.

So on the whole, Trouble was looking forward to arriving, even if it was to be in a cemetery, to search for (most of) a dead body. He shivered and tucked his hands deeper in his pockets. His breath would have made a cloud in front of him, but he was travelling too fast for it to be seen.

Up ahead, one of the blurs suddenly stopped dead in mid air and flipped itself head-first downwards, then dive-bombed to the ground, clearly enjoying itself. Sarah muttered to herself about Holly just showing off, she'd be a splat on the ground before they knew it, but followed her downwards anyway.

The other two followed them down and in a moment, their shoes hit the ground with a dull thud. Trouble glanced around him and unshielded. Holly was trying to read the compass Cater had given her. She turned it around, then pointed vaguely without looking up, almost gouging Sebastian's eye out. Oblivious, Holly set off on foot, meandering along, changing directions occasionally. The other three looked at each other, then shrugged and followed, anxious not to lose each other in the dark.

They were silent. Holly was concentrating on finding the cemetery and none of the others felt like talking. Holly suddenly took a sharp left turn and announced triumphantly "We're here!" There was a new depth to the silence from the others. Holly looked up, expecting praise and found herself staring at a rock wall six inches in front of her nose.

"Hmm. That's odd." she murmured to herself. Sebastian rolled his eyes and stamped his feet, rubbing his arms, in an attempt to keep warm while he was standing still. Holly leaned forwards and touched the rock, running her fingers over the grooves and ridges in it, looking for anything that might show them the way to the cemetery.

She heard a rustling behind her and turned to see Sarah sitting peacefully on the ground, flipping through the parchment sheets from the onyx box. Sarah read a few paragraphs, frowning, then looked up and said "It's in Ancient Gnommish, though a weird form of it. There seems to be –eth added on the end of a lot of words. Anyway, it says to 'knocketh thrice on the door and speaketh thy name and purpose in this hallowed ground'. Sounds easy; off you go, Holly."

Holly stepped forwards, hesitated, then knocked smartly three times on the rock and stepped backwards. "Holly Short, Sarah Nightshade, Trouble Kelp and Sebastian Dubhéadrom wish to enter to help them find a clue." Holly said in a clear voice. Nothing happened. She turned and looked expectantly at Sarah

Sarah read back over the paragraph and said suddenly "Maybe these little food stains are letters." The others rolled their eyes and waited, shivering, for Sarah to translate the new word.

Sarah was murmuring to herself as she pored over the passage "It's not knocketh, I know that. Pocketh? Makes no sense. Locketh? No, not that either. Socketh? Hmm, no . . . are they part of the next word? Or punctuation? Hmm . . ."

Sarah mumbled to herself some more before triumphantly announcing "Got it! 'Knocketh _twice_ on the door and . . . _carveth_ thy name and purpose in this hallowed place.' That should work. Try it, Holly." Holly knocked, then gingerly took the knife Sebastian held out, and lightly carved the sentence she'd spoken before at her eye level, then waited for a moment. Nothing happened yet again.

Holly turned to say something to Sarah, when she heard a low grinding noise and turned to see a ten foot square piece of the rock slide backwards, then sideways, leaving a sizeable entrance open. Holly stepped forwards and passed through the doorway with Sebastian's knife in one hand and the other on her Neutrino.

She walked further into the gloom inside and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark. She looked around again and her jaw dropped. "D'Arvit" she breathed.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Dawn broke over the wreckage of the Cobh craft. Cater was sleeping, with Seth keeping watch for the rescue team, whenever it would come. It had been almost five hours since the four undergrounds had left, Seth reflected, so surely they would be well on their way to the Pendant by now.

He looked up as he heard a low throbbing noise. Another Cobh craft unshielded about ten feet in front of him. Seth stood up, relieved. Several Cobhs jumped down from the craft and Seth waved them over, gesturing at the wreckage. No words were necessary.

The rescuers ran inside, and soon the air was filled with the noise of groans, rubble being moved and terse medical diagnoses. Another Cobh descended from the second craft, this one in uniform, with a badge on his chest telling the world that he was a lieutenant.

Seth walked over to him as the lieutenant said loudly to the world at large "All right, I know this part is pretty vacant of humans, but I want everything gone in two hours, max. And someone call in something to get rid of the wreckage." He turned to Seth, who saluted.

"Lieutenant Dann." Seth said respectfully.

Dann nodded and said "Hello, private. Do you need a medic?"

Seth shook his head. "No sir." he said firmly.

Dann surveyed him for a moment, then nodded. "Very well. In that case, report, please?"

Seth sighed. "Long story, sir. Have a seat." The corners of Dann's mouth twitched, but he sat down on an uprooted chair beside Seth. Seth cleared his throat and began.

"We landed at Gaxun Nur, as ordered, after the first squad of rookies. We captured them, sir. There were four of them, like Tarcil said. Two males, two females. But sir . . . sir, they're _children_. They're forty years old, sir."

Dann frowned. "You're sure? Tarcil said . . . are you sure about this, private?"

"Yes, sir. I saw them, I talked with them. Anyway, we captured them, then Oppel became . . . almost possessed, sir. He attacked one of the children, sir, who had been expressing . . . discontentment about being held captive. Which anyone would do in the circumstances. But you know what Oppel's temper is like, sir. So Cater took charge of the squad. We set course for Ebinur Hu, since the children weren't at all dangerous." Seth didn't turn a hair as he lied to Dann, who nodded and gestured for Seth to keep going.

"About half an hour after we left Gaxun Nur, we were torpedoed. The craft kept going for a few minutes, then we were hit multiple times and crashed. There were definitely some serious injuries sustained, but I don't think anyone died. Half the squad was buried under the debris, and the other half was unconscious. The four children managed to escape in the confusion. We don't know if they're injured or not, or if they left on foot or with wings. But we know they're not here." Seth finished.

Dann nodded slowly, then stood up and beckoned someone over. "Get a search team out there. Change the description; we're looking for a group of four forty-year olds." The private was too well-trained to comment, but you could see in his eyes that he was surprised.

Seth looked around at the scene and burst out "Lieutenant, who torpedoed us?"

Dann was silent for a few moments, then said abruptly "A hit-craft, on Tarcil's orders. He thought that . . . since you weren't going to Hyargas Nur . . . something was wrong, so he decided to do the . . . safe thing and . . ." Dann trailed off as another stretcher went by carrying another limp, bloody and groaning body. He didn't feel like making Tarcil's excuses anymore.

Dann stood up as someone walked over to them and said "Uh, lieutenant? Tarcil's coming. He'll be here in a moment." Dann nodded and waved him away. He turned to Seth and said "You'll tell Tarcil the same thing when he arrives." Seth stood as well when an eagle landed and shifted into Tarcil, who strode over to them.

Nearing the end of his prime, he was an imposing figure than _oozed_ authority; everything from his brisk step, to the curt nod he gave everyone who saluted him, showed his assumption that he would be obeyed without question. He stopped in front of Seth and Dann and said concisely "Report."

Seth saluted reluctantly and explained. "We captured them without a fight, sir. They surrendered immediately. We were en route when we were torpedoed. They escaped in the confusion. That's all, sir."

Tarcil nodded. "Anything to add?"

Seth hesitated and said firmly "Sir, you told us they would be adults, with an LEP team backing them up."

Tarcil's expression didn't change. "Yes, I did."

"Sir, they were _children_! _Alone_ in the middle of nowhere!" Seth burst out "You never told us that!"

Tarcil frowned slightly. "Well, I always knew that my information was not to be totally trusted. That will be all, private, thank you." Tarcil turned to Dann, effectively dismissing Seth, and said "Send a search party out to find them. Give the team orders to bring the prisoners to Hyargas Nur and-"

"But sir!" Seth interrupted.

Tarcil turned and said coldly "I said, that will be all."

Seth hesitated, then took a deep breath and said "Sir, I protest; they aren't dangerous! They surrendered without a fight, taking them to Hyargas Nur isn't necessary!"

"Your opinion is not necessary, private. Now _leave_." Tarcil said icily.

"Sir! I'm not blind! _They're not dangerous_. But you're acting like they'd kill us all with a stare!"

"Get out of my sight! It is not your place to comment on my actions as leader!" Tarcil snapped.

Seth took another plunge. "But if we should respect your leadership, shouldn't we expect _you_ to respect _us_?"

Tarcil's eyes narrowed. "And what do you mean by that?" he asked in a quiet, dangerous voice.

"_You told us they were adults_! Trained, cut-throat murderers!" Seth exclaimed.

"I was wrong." Tarcil said in the same dangerous voice.

"No you weren't! You knew! You didn't _blink_ when I told you they were children! You just wanted us to get them in so you could take whatever it is they have! You want it so much you'd lie to us and torpedo your own people! You wouldn't care if someone dies!" Seth exploded.

Tarcil was silent, furious. Then he smiled, his teeth glinting in the feeble sunlight. "You're right. I _wouldn't_ care if someone died." And his arm moved so fast it blurred. Seth blinked, then looked down as he felt something wet on his chest.

His eyes met the emerald stare of the snake engraved on the hilt of the dagger Tarcil had just imbedded in his heart. Seth looked up at Tarcil, watching him with that small smirk on his face, and Dann, shocked beyond measure. Then Seth's knees folded and he fell to the ground, dead without a sound.

Tarcil pulled the knife out, wiped it on the ground and announced "I will _not_ tolerate rebels or traitors! This idiot obviously thought there was some kind of _conspiracy_ going on! And this . . . _ungrateful_ attitude when all I am doing is trying to return the Cobhs to power! I am doing this for _you_, and you _question_ me? Learn this now, or _you_ will lie dead on the ground, a traitor to your clan: I want loyalty! Service! And you will be rewarded for your unwavering loyalty to your clan!" Tarcil finished, chest heaving, then looked around, as if hoping for a cheer.

But everyone was staring at Seth's body, his open eyes staring lifelessly at the sunrise he never saw. Tarcil turned and stomped over to Dann. "Well, lieutenant? Get moving. I want this place cleared in an hour. Then join the search party. I want those children in Hyargas Nur by sunset." With that, Tarcil turned once again into an eagle and flew off.

Dann tore his eyes away from Seth's body and turned to look at his squad. One of them whispered "Seth . . . but Seth never did anything. He was barely more than a kid. And who . . . who's gonna tell his grandfather? Seth was all he had left. . ."

Dann cleared his throat and said quietly "Come on. Move out. Not a word about him until we're on the craft, but I assure you, this won't be allowed pass like everything before. Someone help me move his body." Stein moved forwards and together they carried him over to the craft, then wrapped him in a blanket. They moved back over to the wreckage and started helping the others clear it away, to leave no trace behind, except for a pool of blood in the long grass.

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**BeatlesLover: Is this summary better? Nice idea about the Beatles, I could probably work in a reference somewhere along the way. And sorry, the "bad" event happens in this chappie. Which I suppose you know by now. **

**Mirkwoodmage: Thank you.**

**OddBird92: Yeah, I decided to keep Sarah's name, because it would be too much of a hassle to change it all over the story. Um, Seba yelled because he wasn't asleep yet, because Sarah was yelling, therefore preventing him from getting to sleep. Capiche?**

**Mad Sam: I think I'll keep Cater. For the time being. Or I could kill him off and enjoy the raging reviews that will probably come, since Cater is strangely popular.**

**Waves-Sama: Oh, _that_. Yes, we did do it in art class. Gods know what for. She just up and said "All right, I'm going to teach you something that might be useful to you in the future." And whaddaya know, it was.**

**La Cramento: Cramento doesn't mean anything that I know, at least not in Spanish or Portuguese, the two languages it sounds like it comes from. But who knows? Well, glad you enjoyed this story. And are still enjoying, hopefully. You knew the Indochine song already? Or you went and looked it up after you read it in my bio?**

**Wulfie: Yeah, everyone's telling me not to change the title, and since I can't think of a better one, it'll probably stay the same.**

**Spaza: Nice name. Glad you liked the story.**

**Darklight Ascendant: Nice to hear from you again, your reviews are always helpful in making me notice all the stupid mistakes that seem to populate my writing. But anyways. About the speed of magic sparks thingy, from Artic Incident: "A solitary blue spark travelled lazily along the length of Holly's arm . . ." I know that the first part of the healing might be different than the rest, but if you consider that it's travelling "lazily" by the standards of the human eye, it's not going all that fast. And plus, I always had the idea (false as it may be) that the sparks came slower and fewer the closer to empty the magicker (?) was. If that made any sense whatsoever to you, congratulate yourself.**


	33. Following Words

**A/N Still nothing much to say. . . Other than to announce that Keane (the band from England) ROCK and I am now addicted to the songs All Downhill From Here by New Found Glory, and Time Is Running Out by Muse. Just some musical suggestions if you're looking for something new.**

****

**CHAPTER THIRTY TWO**

Holly's eyes widened as she took in once more the sight around her. She was inside what seemed to be a huge, hollow mountain that descended hundreds of feet underground as well as upwards.

Below and above her, the huge space, that had once been filled with earth, had been terraced, cut into a huge staircase, one on each side. On the "stairs", Holly could see hundreds, maybe thousands, of graves, all neatly positioned in straight rows, each one marked by a stunted tree with the details of the dead person's life an death carved into the trunks. The thicker the tree, the older the grave, Holly knew.

While she was still gaping at the breath-taking sight, she heard the others step up to stand with her. She heard a gasp from Sarah and Trouble murmured something under his breath. Sebastian, ever the pessimist, gave it a cursory glance and said "Good gods, it'll take us all eternity to find one grave in here, even if we knew which one we were looking for."

Holly shook herself out of her reverie and said "We'd better get started then, hadn't we?" She started down the staircase that lead to the nearest terrace. Sebastian followed her, as did Sarah and Trouble after a moment.

Holly looked around again and felt her heart sink. There had to be at least a thousand, if not more, graves here. How would they find just one, especially when they didn't know which one they wanted?

Trouble perked up suddenly and said "Hey, what if we get out the jaw bone and see how old it is? I mean, it probably isn't fifty thousand years old, but I doubt it's ten years old either. That would take a lot of graves off the list if we knew roughly how old it is. Anything in the papers?"

Sarah pulled out the box and cautiously removed the jaw bone, then handed it to Sebastian, who examined it carefully, running his hands along it. Sarah pulled out the parchment sheets and put the box away.

"OK, in the papers, we have the directions to enter the cemetery, what seems to be a map of somewhere, a letter that is either in code or some freakish language I've never seen before, and . . . a tooth. From the jaw bone?"

Sebastian shook his head. "This one's not missing any teeth. Could be from the upper jaw though."

Trouble sighed. "So we have pretty much nothing to go on, as well as a warning not to trust the Cobhs."

Holly looked up sharply. "Who said that?"

Trouble looked startled. "I thought I told you. Sarah found writing on the jaw bone. What was it again? _Follow my words: trust not the pride of the Cobhs_. That was it."

Sebastian hummed to himself, thinking over the words, while Holly sighed and looked over Sarah's shoulder at the parchment sheets, both of them looking for something, anything, that might help them. Trouble wandered off to look at the nearest grave marker, a rather nice miniature olive tree that probably didn't exist anywhere else but in this cemetery.

Trouble read the inscription out loud. "_Gwenyth Riddyll. Born 20th November, 20. Died 17th May, 690. We trust in thee, our guardian above_." Sebastian frowned as Trouble moved on to the next grave. Something was nagging at his brain, something obvious. _Listen! He _told_ you, the fairy whose jaw bone it is! Listen to him!_

Sebastian looked up and said "Sarah? What's written on the jaw bone again?"

"_Follow my words: trust not the pride of the Cobhs_. Nice and simple, not like that blasted prophecy, all those hints and double meanings" she replied without looking up.

Sebastian exclaimed "That's it! You're wrong, but you've got it!" and he turned and ran over to the grave beside the one Trouble had just read out loud.

Sarah frowned. "I don't get it. How can I be wrong _and_ right?"

Sebastian didn't look up from the tree trunk. "You were wrong about the 'warning' being nice and simple, but you were right about the double meaning. We have to follow his words. _Literally_ follow his words. There'll be one word from the sentence, one on each tree, making a path to the grave we want. Trouble already found the first word, _trust_. Now I'm looking for _not_. Hmm. _Always to be remembered._ Not this one then."

Holly jumped up and looked on the grave behind the first one. "_It is _not_ for us to decide what shall happen._ Here! Next word?"

"_The_. Fairly simple, I suppose." Sarah replied, coming over to help. "_Why does thee cry, when I have merely left my body?_ Not this one."

Trouble, reading one behind the second one, called out "_In life, in death, _the_ memories remain_. This one!"

Sebastian read the one to the left of the one Trouble found. "_Died for a powerful weakness: his _pride." Sebastian looked up and found himself facing a stone wall. He looked up further and saw the next grave, six feet above him, on the next "stair" up.

"Oh, great." he heard Sarah remark to his left. He felt Holly move up to his right. Trouble cursed behind him. "Anyone got a rope?" Trouble asked.

"Are you a shape shifter or not?" Sebastian replied. He shifted into a large eagle, grabbed Holly's shoulder with one foot and Sarah's with the other and in two beats of the powerful wings, set them both down on the second. Terrace. Trouble landed beside them in an instant, then both he and Sebastian shifted back to fairy shape.

Sarah was already reading the newest grave. "Of_ all my people, I was the one who fell defending them_." 

In front of them, Holly had found the next one. "The _one who never returned_."

It took a bit longer to find the last one, which turned out to be diagonally behind the previous one, in the shadow of the next "stair". Trouble read it out. "_As the Cobhs lived, so I died by their hands, my brothers and sisters_." He looked up. "This is it. This is the last one."

Holly and Sarah were silent, gazing at it, wondering about and dreading their next move. Sebastian, however, showed no such qualms. "So we dig it up now, do we?"

Sarah nodded reluctantly, then brightened and said "You can do it, Seb."

"_Sebastian_." he growled under his breath, then looked around and froze. Holly followed his gaze and had to laugh. A shovel was leaning against the stone wall, hidden in the shadows, just waiting for someone to pick it up and . . . what? Dig up a grave to find the next clue to an ancient evil? Perhaps.

"Coincidence?" Holly mused aloud, shaking her head. Sebastian shrugged and grabbed it, hesitating only a moment before driving the shovel into the earth and piling it up on the side of the grave.

For five minutes, the only sound was Sebastian's ragged breathing, the shuffling of the earth as it was moved and the rustling of Sarah re-reading the parchments carefully. Finally, there was a _thunk_ as the shovel hit something solid. Sebastian quickly cleared away the rest of the dirt and exposed a wooden coffin, totally unremarkable in every way.

He used the edge of the shovel to lever up the edge of the coffin, a little surprised that it was this easy to rob a grave. He should have realized he was tempting fate. What was either a small explosive device, or a spell cast on the coffin to ward off thieves, exploded and Sebastian and the shovel went flying.

Holly stared for a minute, surprised by how many different swear words Sebastian knew, then gingerly reached out her foot and poked the coffin. When nothing exploded again, she crouched down and pushed the lid off, steeling herself for whatever was inside. Which turned out to be nothing more than they expected.

Bones. Fairy ones. Nothing too gory; after all, they _were_ a few thousand years old, so the flesh was gone. A complete skeleton. Well, _visibly_ complete, except for the notable absence of the lower jaw bone, and one tooth from the upper jaw.

"Now what?" Sebastian asked, gingerly inspecting an area on his arm that the blue sparks had just finished wiping clean of a bruise. Holly shrugged.

"There's a piece of paper under the skull." Trouble said suddenly, pointing. He crouched down and tentatively lifted the skull and pulled out the papers. He put the skull back down, straightened up and looked down at that paper blankly, then after a few moments thought said "It's a legend. Like in a puzzle book. The key to a code. A very complicated looking one, by the way. Hey, Sarah, didn't you say there was a coded letter in the box?"

Sarah nodded and pulled it out. She compared it to the paper in Trouble's hand and smiled. "That's it. Let's get to work." She promptly sat down and pulled a blank sheet of paper from her bag and started deciphering. She said without looking up "You guys do something else."

"Like what?" Sebastian wanted to know.

"I don't know. Look through the other papers. The map, for example. See what that's about."

Sebastian rifled through the sheaf of papers beside Sarah and pulled the map out. He looked at the other two and saw that Holly was examining the compass and Trouble was crouched beside the still-open coffin, staring at it thoughtfully.

Sebastian shrugged and looked closer at the map. It was in a strange language, very angular and all the letters were flat on the top, except for some that extended upwards. Odd, that flatness, Sebastian thought. Wait a second . . .

With an embarrassed look around to see if anyone had noticed, Sebastian turned the map the right way up and saw immediately that it was in English, a Mud Man language. A strange choice, but no great drawback; Sebastian could read it. Then Sebastian saw what the map was illustrating. The spidery title was enough. "Kazakhstan?"

The other three looked up as Sebastian read the rest of the map. "On the other side of the country. We're on the east side, it's on the west. Seems to be on a small island, near a delta. About- " he did a few quick calculations in his head "- 2.900 miles from here."

"Almost three thousand miles? Good thing the wings don't run out of fuel that quickly." Holly muttered. Trouble straightened up and changed the subject abruptly.

"I was thinking-"

"Dangerous." murmured Sebastian, more out of habit than spite.

Trouble ignored him and continued. "We took the onyx box from the original hiding place, when we shouldn't have. I think we should bury it here, just to hide it from Tarcil or whoever's following us."

The other three nodded their agreement and Sarah handed over the empty stone box, its contents to be safely nestled at the bottom of Sarah's bag. Trouble gently placed it at the feet of the dead fairy. On impulse, Holly handed him the jaw bone to replace as well. Trouble put it back in the place it had vacated several thousand years before and pulled the lid back over the coffin.

Sebastian started shovelling all the displaced earth back onto the coffin. After a few minutes' work, the top-most layer of dirt was almost level with the rest of the terrace. Sebastian patted the ground flat with the shovel and stood back. Only close observation would show that the ground had been recently disturbed. And the grave was far back, in the shadow of the next terrace; almost impossible to see, let alone distinguish from the hundreds of thousands of other graves in the mountain. So on the whole, there was a pretty good chance no one would ever know they had been grave-robbing.

"Sebastian, would you pass me the map?" Sarah said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Here. What is it?" Sebastian complied with her request, then craned his neck to see what Sarah was doing. Which was muttering to herself and tracing invisible lines on the map, cross-referencing with the coded paper.

Suddenly, she sat back on her heels and smiled. "_What is it?"_ Sebastian irritably asked again, not appreciating being kept in the dark.

She grinned again. "Our first bit of good luck."

**I just remembered another kick-ass song. Go listen to it now. The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows by Brand New. All right, I'll stop now. It's just no one else I know likes those songs. Idiots.**

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Liaranne: Have a nice time on holiday? Yeah, I always want to have personalized villains in my writing, because I hate how sometimes things are portrayed as black and white, no grey in between, especially in books.**

**Alixi: Actually, you make a good point. But then again, I managed to discreetly pass my friend a hockey stick in the middle of Maths class, but I think that has more to do with my teacher than anything else.**

**BeatlesLover: GAH! I'm no good whatsoever with summaries, titles or anything that has to do with trying to label or file away my story. For Christ's sake, I couldn't even decide which category it goes in! I need some serious help . . .**

**Well, glad to know that Seth as liked, if nothing else.**

**Mad Sam: Almost cried? Well, that's sure odd. But then I never cry at movies or books. Or anything, really. Let's see, I killed Seth because . . . the good guy never dies in stories.**

**La Cramento: Thank you. Yeah, my beta told me the same thing. She doesn't like the killing off of characters, but it does do a lot for a story. Glad someone else like that song.**

**Maria: Yeah, I was wondering where you'd gone to. Updating now, hopefully your mother's letting you on longer by now.**

**DaydreamQueenMisha: Like your pen-name. I keep meaning to sit down and edit this monster in one big chunk, but I keep losing interest . . . It's not exciting enough for me at some bits. Like you said, it's too slow at some parts. And I also agree with the fact that recently I've been slack on incorporating the frying pan element (that's its official name now, I like it).**

**Yup, I forgot to put in more stuff about the Kelp family, but I will before this thing's over. Yes, Rowan will come round . . . sometime. When I feel like waking him up. Yes, you're correct about the suspects for the heir, but I'm not telling you yet. Anyway, I might change it. I think it's too clichéd (but then again what isn't?), but everyone who knows likes it the way it is.**

**Darklight Ascendant: True. It does flow better like that. The sentence, I mean. I agree with the iffiness about killing fairies. I hummed and hawed over it for ages before I decided to leave it like that. I mean, yes, Holly managed to heal someone with a bullet right below their heart (Butler in TEC), but he was a human, no magic in his body to worry about upsetting. And besides, Seth was almost out of magic. I don't know. I think it works.**

**The CheezHead: I like your pen-name too. Yup, Tarlang is indeed a shape shifter. Nice theory. I should have done that. But I had to leave _some_ clues to the person's identity. Unfortunately the only ones I could leave were glaring ones. Thank you. I don't believe anyone has ever called my story "spiffy" before ;)**

**Flattenedowl: Another cool pen-name, though not one I understand very well.**

**Waves-Sama: Was the style actually different? Huh. I never noticed. Anyways. What's that? Good guys never die? I never noticed. . . But glad you liked it anyway.**

**Reubenae: What does your pen-name mean? And yes, I think my story's slow as well. I'm working on that. Yes, Tarcil is a shape shifter.**

**BeatlesLover: I shall let the update speak for itself. Never let it be said I don't do anything for my reviewers (other than frustrate them). Hope you catch this before you leave.**


	34. Other People's Lives

**A/N 39 days without an update. Clearly, some people don't like that. Shall I bore you with an explanation? Nah. I'm here now, so who cares why I was gone? Thank you to everyone for their patience (especially BeatlesLover, wink wink), and enjoy the chapter. **

**CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE**

The medic peered over his handheld computer at his newest patient. Medic Doorn then returned his gaze to the screen, which was reeling off vital information about the patient. Doorn's eyebrows raised as he read more. Finally, he sighed and put the device in his pocket.

He bent over the elf slumbering on the bed, but sighed once more as the disturbance in the corridor grew louder. He straightened up, marched over to the door and threw it open, yelling at a volume to rival Commander Root, "IN CASE ANY IMBECILIC CIVILIAN HAS NOT NOTICED, THIS IS A HOSPITAL AND SILENCE IS MANDATORY UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR DEAREST NIGEL OR WHOEVER TO END UP WITH AN EXTRA LIMB BECAUSE THE MEDICS ARE UNABLE TO CONCENTRATE!"

Ash Vein and a young intern immediately shut up. Their faces took on that look of injured innocence so often seen right after a riot or similar disturbance has just finished and the nearby area is suddenly filled with innocent bystanders, the perpetrators having mysteriously disappeared.

Doorn glared at them both and hissed "You in the uniform, either go rescue a cat from up a stalactite or sit your fly-boy backside down on a chair and shut up!" Ash reddened, and Doorn continued mercilessly on. "And you, you pathetic excuse for a medical worker, if I find one more piece of evidence to support my theory that you're a feeble undercover tax collector, you'll be scrubbing medical waste tanks from now until you die of poison inhalation! Now the both of you carry on pretending to do your jobs in silence or I'll lock you both in the morgue!"

The door swung shut behind him as Doorn re-entered Rowan's room. Everyone was staring, except for someone who had just stomped down the corridor, followed by a centaur with his jaw hanging down to his knees.

Root nodded happily and said to Foaly "Pony, get that man hired at the LEP medical department. I don't care how much he wants for his salary, just get him there by next week. We need more people like him."

Foaly opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it and nodded when he saw the look in Root's eyes. Root clumped over to Ash and sat down heavily beside him.

He pulled out a fungus cigar and chomped down on it. Glancing sideways, he grunted "Don't look so surprised to see me, Vein. When two of my best officers need to abandon a vital mission, I know something's wrong. And I try my best to get there before it gets any worse. Now, we've got four temperamental teenagers somewhere up in central Asia, being pursued by persons unknown, for reasons unknown. And we've lost track and contact with the kiddies. Still care to ask me why I'm here?"

Ash shook his head mutely, then blurted "What are we going to do, sir?"

Root sighed and lit the forbidden cigar, a sure sign he was riled. He gestured to Foaly to talk, who jumped in right away with the possibilities.

"Our options are limited. One. We send a team in. Which can only happen _if_ we inform the Council of what's going on. Which, needless to say, is a very big no-no. They'd want control of the operation and us three and Rowan would all end up fired or in jail, perhaps both, for going this far without their approval. So that's pretty much gone.

"Two. We pick several officers we trust and send them up under some pretence we make up. Three. We wait until Rowan is fine again then send him and Ash back up there. Four. We send Ash back up by himself. Five. We continue monitoring the situation and leave the four get on with it themselves, like the prophecy says they should."

Ash squirmed in his seat, then said finally "I don't like it. None of those options will really _help_ those kids."

Root nodded, though it was hard to tell through the cloud of smoke wafting around his head. "The only possible course of action that will really do something is to send in a team. But we need to keep this quiet. You know how much the Council loves publicity, there's no way they'd be able to stay silent on this. So since nothing else will make any difference, we'll take option number five. They seemed to be doing fairly well by themselves anyway." Root finished.

A tendril of smoke had drifted over to the door to Rowan's room. Doorn sniffed again to make sure he was smelling what he thought he was smelling. After all, who would be crazy enough to _smoke_ in _his_ hospital?

He stormed out the door to chat with the smoker in question. He returned five minutes later, feeling pleased, with a new job, leaving behind a staff of relieved interns, a smoke-free hospital and a grumpy commander.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Cater was sitting on a bed, looking out a window cut in the rock of the cliff face. He was staring, but he wasn't seeing anything, except the surprised look in Seth's eyes as he collapsed. Like the look in that kid's eyes when Oppel threw himself at him. Cater's head dropped into his hands. "What did I almost do?" he wondered. "If I'd let Oppel kill them, Seth would be alive. But then they'd be dead. A life I knew for four I didn't. How can I know if it was a fair trade?"

There was a determined knock on the door on the other side of the room. It was made of thick wood, so it sounded quiet. This place was built for being defended. It was in a cliff, overlooking a lake, named Ebinur Hu. In one of the remotest parts of China, there was little chance of discovery for the four hundred members of the Cobh clan living there. Of course, the Cobh clan wasn't really a _clan_ per say anymore; they numbered well over three thousand, spread all over Northern and Central Asia.

And not all of them were even descended from Cobh himself. Only some were. Cobh's wife, her unborn child and young daughter had fled the town near the Kobalt when the earthquake diverted the river, turning what was once a prosperous village and fertile farmlands into a marsh.

But joining them in creating a new haven had been most of the wife's family, and at least twenty other people who'd been pulled from the raging river when the boat was fleeing. So only a small portion of the present Cobh clan were actually Cobh's descendants.

Ebinur Hu was home to three branches of the Cobh clan: the Azok, the Lyra and the Guillaume (named for the members of the original refugee group that they were descended from) and a few, much smaller, families. Tarcil had spent almost all of his time as leader trying to convince people that they were all Cobhs and the different families weren't as important as the whole clan. Cater now wondered if Tarcil had done that to make more people support his idea that the Pendant belonged to them, the "Cobhs". Maybe he'd been planning this for a very long time; much longer than they'd thought.

Another knock on the door. Cater didn't move. The door opened and an old female elf entered. Her imposing figure and aura was softened slightly by a kind twinkle in her eyes and a permanent quirk to her mouth. But Cater knew all very well how strict and disciplinary she could be.

For this elf was the matriarch of Cater's family, the Azok, and Cater's great-aunt. Jeshika Azok walked over to Cater and stood in front of him. Reluctantly, he raised his eyes to meet hers.

She said briskly "I know Seth died and I know how. But there's nothing you can do, so stop moping and do something useful. Like tell me who Seth's family is, so I can break the news to them."

"You mean his grandfather." Cater said in a low voice. "He was a Sered. They were the only two of that family left here. I think there's more at Hyargas Nur. I don't know."

Jeshika sighed, then gestured for Cater to stand up. He did, unwillingly. She gestured at the door, miming shutting it. A bit confused, Cater shut the door and returned to stand in front of his great-aunt.

She grasped his wrists and looked him in the eye. "I told you, a long time ago, when you were just a boy," she said quietly, "-that Tarcil was a danger to this clan. He wasn't even head of the clan then. Now look where we are. He's killed off a family. We've lived undisturbed for thousands of years, now we are going to war."

She saw the look on Cater's face and snapped "Oh, don't be so naïve. Did you really think, once Tarcil has the power of the Pendant behind him, that he would stop there? No, I tell you. Before long we'd be fighting the undergrounds, then the humans. It's already started. And children are first to be battled, so I hear? Well, I won't stand for it. None of us will, before long.

"Now, I want you make a decision. Stand by Tarcil, for whatever reason you'd want to, or join us. Things are happening. I won't tell you more yet." She let go of his wrists and, as if on impulse, gave him a quick hug, which Cater returned gratefully, whispering "I'm on your side.".

She walked over to the door. She paused with her hand on the door handle and said to the door "But I'll tell you this: I'll be damned if I let a bit of jewellery destroy this clan." And she strode out the door without looking back.

**Looking back on it, this chapter is the farthest off-focus I've ever gotten. But I like it. If I ever get around to re-editing, I'll be adding in some scenes, and most of them will focus more on the Cobh clan (since I like that story-line) and Doorn, the medic, will appear more too. But don't hold out too much hope for anything like that happening soon.**

**Also, go check out my originals on : **

**I don't have time for all the review-answering, so I'll just do ones with questions or something I need to say to the person. Sorry.**

**Holikaimelar: Nice name. And welcome to the not-really-a-club-but-anyways club. Always nice to have a new reviewer. I agree, Sebastian was very much a Gary-Stu and I hated it, but I dithered for AGES over how to change him. Still. I think he's better now too. When you said my plot was a bit predictable at times, what do you mean? Like which bit? I want to know what stuff I should change for the re-write. Anyhoo, thanks for the review.**

**The Serendipituos Oracle: Another nice name. And another new reviewer. Thanks for the compliments. The humour's kind of fallen off the back of the truck, but I'm trying to put some back in. About the descendant: it is very clichéd. I think it is, but since so much of the story has been going against clichés, I decided what the hell, let's put in a BIG one.**

**Shadow of a Nightsky: GAH! Why does everyone have better pen names then me?!?! Thank you for being the first to express what has been painfully obvious for me for a while: it is dragging on FAR too long. And I won't give up on this. Because then I'd have quite a few rabid readers trying to stone me, and my sister and brother would murder me in my sleep. So this WILL get finished. Eventually.**

**Gus: Hey, four new reviewers in one chappie. Not bad, not bad. And thank you for pointing out something to lower BeatlesLover's blood pressure. And I'm planning on doing a re-write when I've finished the first draft (that means what you're reading now.), one where I'll fix the Mary-Sue and Gary-Stu-ness. And all the typos. So don't hold your breath for it. Thanks for the review.**

**BeatlesLover: No problem. I had to laugh when I read all the reviews, then found Gus's adn your replies. No worries, just don't eat too much red meat.**


	35. What Lies Ahead

**A/N HAH! An update in TWO DAYS! Not so good by my original standards (a chapter a day . . . gods, I had no life then), but now I don't have to write a Holly/Root romance, a ship I abhor, but as someone pointed out, there are far worse ones out there. And before I can dwell too long on that thought, on to the chapter!**

**Oh, and in this chappie, Sebastian is a bit of a – well, he's not very endearing. And I introduce one of my favourite characters to write, who is also mine, Dom Physa. Read on. And revel in the lack of Holly/Root. I know I am.**

**CHAPTER THIRTY THREE**

_Sarah grinned. "It's our first bit of good luck."_

"This recently de-coded letter has directions to the next place we have to go." Sarah announced. "_Complete_ instructions, for the first time. So with this and the map, it'll be easy to find it. And guess what's at the next place?"

"Let me guess." Sebastian drawled. "Another marauding clan, complete with stereotypical village idiot and evil leader? Oh, and let's not forget the dead body. Oh wait. There's been _two_ of them! Or perhaps a megalomaniac bird? No? Maybe another ambush? Wrong again? So tell me; which joy awaits us?"

Sarah glared at him, her happy mood vanishing. "_Actually_, the island we're going to is the home of the Pendant of Halifirien." she said smugly, thinking this would surprise him. It didn't.

"A piece of jewellery that's been fought over for tens of thousands of years and can destroy the world? Even better." Sebastian shot back.

"Oh, shut up. You're getting on my nerves." Holly snapped.

"Begging your pardon, Highness. I was unaware a drop back to reality could irritate your highly strung self." Sebastian replied in a mock humble tone.

Trouble joined in the argument before Holly could reply. "Would you stop it? You're not helping anything and I'm getting sick of listening to the both of you!" he snapped.

"Well _excuse me _for thinking that four kids in the middle of what's turning into a war can't do anything!" Sebastian replied.

"We still have to try!" Holly shot back. "Look what's happened already! My dad's in a coma because of this, I'm not giving up! What do I have to show for _that_? What if he dies?"

"Then maybe you'd realize that he should have spent more time away from his policing and with his family!"

Holly had landed a right hook right on Sebastian's nose before Trouble or Sarah could stop her. Sebastian fell down on his backside with a thump. He put a hand up to his bleeding nose, which the sparks were already healing and said in a disbelieving voice "You hit me."

Holly had a strange feeling at that moment. Sort of the opposite of _déjà vu_. _Aller__ voir_ perhaps? Like she was going to see this scene again. She snapped out of the dreamy state and growled "And I'll do it again if you say something like that once more!"

Sebastian rubbed his nose gingerly and said gruffly "Sorry. Just don't punch me again."

Holly nodded sullenly. Trouble sighed and said mournfully "With all this fighting it'll be a miracle if we even get to the Pendant."

Sarah shrugged. "We might as well get going then." And with that, she stood up, swept everything except the map into her bag, swung the bag onto her bag and started walking towards the entrance.

Trouble picked up his bag and followed her. Holly and Sebastian stayed where they were until Holly finally stretched out a hand to him. He took it and, avoiding each other's eyes, she pulled him to his feet.

"I'm sorry." Sebastian said, meeting Holly's eyes, sounding sincere this time. "I didn't mean it. He seemed all right when I met him."

Holly nodded and replied "I'm sorry too. Now let's go before the others are halfway across Kazakhstan." They grabbed their bags and walked out to join the others in silence.

Once the door had swung shut behind them, they pulled out the wings and put them on. Sarah and Holly conferred over the map and compass before deciding which way to go. They started the silent engines and took off just as the sun started to rise over the distant horizon.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

There isn't much that can be said about the journey. They left at the crack of dawn and the journey took most of the sunlit hours. They touched down at on top of a remote mountain at noon for some food. Their stores were running low, but they put it to the backs of their minds, telling themselves that their journey was almost over.

Over the long monotonous hours spent flying it started to sink in that this hellish journey was almost over. At the beginning, when they had been safely secure in LEP HQ, it had seemed like an adventure. Now, it just seemed like a nightmare. Where they had been able to grudgingly get along before, they now bickered like infants. And that was when they weren't yelling or punching each other.

Each of them spent the seemingly endless flight silently mulling over their thoughts. Trouble was thinking about their situation, being so perceptive and logical and policeman-like about it that LEP instructors would weep to hear it.

Things were mixed. On the plus side, they were almost at the Pendant, and they knew exactly where it was. Also, the trouble that they had been anticipating from the Cobh clan didn't seem to be happening; there was another group in Central Asia who was spending all its time bickering and plotting.

On the bad side, they had no idea what defences and booby traps they'd have to pass to get to the Pendant itself. And Tarcil was still after them. And there was no sign of Ash or Rowan. And for all they knew, Casper was still after them. So it wasn't _really_ mixed. More cons than pros, actually. Trouble winced and decided to think about something else.

He sighed and looked at the world as it flew by. Cloud, cloud, funny looking bird, cloud, a fuzzy blotch overtaking him, cloud, cloud, another bird, cloud. Trouble groaned to himself. Another blur passed him, and he wondered who it was.

He winced again as he thought of his travelling companions. He supposed Sebastian was a nice person inside, it was just that "inside" happened to be buried under so many layers of sarcasm, snappiness, cynicism, and just plain bad-tempered-ness, that so far Trouble had only caught a glimpse of it. But considering that that had occurred on that occasion when Sebastian had shot a few fairies to defend the others, Trouble thought the point might be moot.

Trouble knew the other two well enough not to have to ponder very long about why they were in a bad mood. Holly's short temper was an explanation in itself, and Sarah was mad at everyone because everyone was mad at her for being so unconcerned about it all. But not much else was new.

Finally, the sun started to set in front of them and suddenly the horizon was shining, sparkling in the fading light. Trouble blinked a few times, and then realized he was looking at a huge lake, stretching in both directions as far as the eye could see. What was the name of it? He cast his memory back to his geography classes. Something familiar . . . of course. The Caspian Sea. Very close to Casper's name. Trouble looked around edgily as if he was following them at this very moment. Of course, he didn't know that Casper had been dead for almost 12 hours.

Trouble pushed his paranoiac thoughts away and concentrated on the blurs in front of him. One of them veered off slightly, to follow the shoreline of the lake, the others turning to follow. Trouble changed direction as well and sighed again, bored almost out of his skull. And his companions didn't make interesting thinking matter. Trouble mumbled something to himself about how things couldn't get much worse. The wind snatched the words as soon as they left his mouth, and carried them far away.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

A small island sat in the glistening waters of the Caspian Sea. To the north was the Volga river delta, where the river split into many parts, then emptied into the sea. Just offshore sat a group of small islands, some of them no more than sand bars. Some were merely lumps of rock that seemed to have been tossed into the water by a huge being. Well, strictly speaking, it had actually been a rather _short_ being doing the tossing. But you wouldn't say that to his face, not if you valued your pride and your limbs.

Technically, the term was _dwarf_, but on one of the small islands, that word was taboo, but not by anyone's orders. It wasn't that Dom Physa didn't like being short; he just didn't know he was. Try telling a seven-footer that he's short. Much the same reaction could be had from Dom, except the yelling would be coming from around a human's kneecaps.

But anyone who says in that pitying voice that height doesn't matter is proved right in Dom's very existence. Not many people are the Immortal Guardian of a precious treasure and a dangerous weapon (both known as the Pendant of Halifirien).

Dom knew more about the Pendant and its history and former owners than anyone else on and under the face of the earth. There was also the small matter of being in charge of the last battalion of Creatlach Duine in the world, even if they did only number thirty-one in total.

The Creatlach Duine had once been the most feared army in the world, when fairies shared the world with the then-small population of humans. They were magical creatures that looked like fairy skeletons, but were the size of humans. Not to mention their superhuman strength. They were fully capable of intelligent thought, but they obeyed their commander(s) without question, but could still think for themselves when they needed to. All in all, they had been the perfect strike force, one that had been under the control of the fairies.

But when the humans started to get more than slightly annoying, the fairies had voted on whether to set the Creatlach Duine on the humans. The leaders were split on whether or not to wipe the humans out, so they turned on each other and started to squabble. Then, in a move surprisingly reminiscent of humans, the generals, each one in control of part of the Creatlach Duine, had set their supernatural armies on each other.

The Creatlach Duine had been wiped out by each other, except for 31 that had been under the control of a certain Tarlang Cobh. He sent them to the Kobalt, to protect them, and when the whole mess was over and people started asking questions, he claimed they had been wiped out by the battalion belonging to General Chene (the most enthusiastic human-hater of the lot, and also the one who had started it all, who had _mysteriously_ dropped dead in a street full of _innocent_ bystanders who harboured no ill feelings _whatsoever_ about the almost-civil-war that had been Chene's fault).

Once the hullabaloo had died down, Tarlang decided to put the remaining Creatlach Duine to work guarding the Pendant, which had some magical defences, but not enough to soothe Tarlang's frayed nerves. Since he knew that the Creatlach Duine were immortal, and he himself was far from it, he had to appoint an Immortal Guardian to make sure everything stayed in order.

The only thing he had to think about in his choice of an Immortal Guardian was how exactly to persuade his wizard friends to make the guardian immortal. There was never any fairy in consideration other than Dom Physa, who had been a high ranking officer in the ancient equivalent of the LEP. Dom had left, disgusted, when the debate about whether to wipe out the humans had started.

Dom Physa had no family, and few real friends, except for some of the recently-deceased Creatlach Duine, who made surprisingly good friends. Dom was trustworthy, dependable, a good leader and hated anyone who stopped him from doing his job. The perfect choice for the job. Of course, his ability to wrestle with (and beat) a Creatlach Duine, helped somewhat.

The immortalizing sequence was carried out secretly, and in small parts, spread over several years. Dom was made immortal, per say, but his life was tied to that of the Pendant's, meaning that as long as the Pendant was whole and undamaged, Dom would be alive and well.

Dom knew that the Pendant was dangerous, and knew that someday someone would destroy it, but until then, it was his job to make sure no one other than the heir came anywhere near the Pendant, and even then to make sure the heir had to fight hard to prove him-or-herself as the true heir. And the job benefits weren't bad at all.

He made his rounds four times a day, checking everything was normal, and that the shifts of sentries were going like clockwork. Then he went back to what he spent his free time doing: either researching even more on the Pendant, or following both the human and fairy worlds with interest.

After much deliberation, in 1937 he had (under a false name and pretence) ordered several complete, fairy-made, surveillance systems. Not for the island itself, of course. The magic wards in place there did all the work. No, he sent several Creatlach Duine to place them in the offices and work places of archaeologists and historians (both fairy and human) who were working on subjects too close to the Pendant's history for Dom's comfort. Even if his employer had been dead for thousands of years, Dom wasn't lying down on the job.

On that particular day, he was standing in a dim stone room, deep down in the labyrinth that was the huge rock of the island. Like an iceberg, only one-eighth was visible, the rest was under water, and continued down into the earth. And it had all been hollowed, cut into rooms, furnished and was a fully functional house, if slightly cold in winter.

Dom was staring at a small sphere on a short pillar in the centre of the room. He was pulling at his beard thoughtfully. The seeing-sphere was glowing, casting a shimmering light into the shadows of the corners of the room. He reached forwards and traced a shape on the sphere.

Suddenly, an image filled the room, like a hologram, but one that sparkled and looked more real than any hologram. It showed four blurs speeding through the air. Dom snapped his fingers and the picture flickered and wavered, then suddenly the four blurs became four young elves, with wings on their shoulders and backpacks on their backs.

Dom knew enough about Tarlang's family to be able to recognize the heir instantly. His lips twitched upwards about a millimetre and he murmured "A bit young. But three companions should be enough help. They should be here by nightfall."

He waved his hand and the picture changed, showing Tarcil and several dozen Cobhs. His lips twitched again. "And they're bringing that blasted Tarcil with them. Hmm, and four whole squads of Cobhs. Ah, and the revolutionaries are hidden among the ranks as well." A full fledged smile split his face and he chuckled.

"Oh, this is going to be _fun_."

**Reviewish**** Stuff:**

**Mad Sam: I like the Cobhs too. And Doorn too. Root's found a kindred spirit.**

**TheCheezHead****: Would telling you if your guess is wrong or right be giving away too much? Remember, it's v. clichéd. And yes, the world is not fair. **

**Ra1ns0ng32: I'm not quite sure how many more chapters there will be. It changes, depending on whether I'm in a minimalist mood, or a rambling mood.**

**DaydreamQueenMisha****: Glad you liked the new characters. I like them too, but I didn't know if anyone else would.**

**And two people who have kept me laughing over the past few days:**

**BeatlesLover****: I'm not laughing. Much. Everything just sort of spun out of proportion and I couldn't remember who's reviewed my fic before and then I opened my e-mails and found about 10 reviews from you and Gus, talking to each other and me about something I couldn't remember what, and I just sat there laughing. Life's funny sometimes. But glad you're still enjoying the story.**

**I don't know many others Beatles lusters. They're slightly endangered as well. And who did you contact, thinking it was a fangirl, and it turned out to be a guy?**

**Gus: I agree with the endangered males thingy. And Cudgeon is . . . well, I tried writing him in, but I couldn't make it work, and I thought it didn't really need him anyways. Root's the Commander. And Vein, well, I always figured he wasn't too much older than Holly, so when she's a teenager, he wouldn't have been in the LEP all that long, so I made him a Sergeant. He'll get promoted after the Pendant fiasco, though.**

**And about the minion-scaring thing, it's a good idea, but I don't think I could use it anywhere. It just doesn't fit with my story. But then again . . . I dunno. Maybe I'll use it. Thanks, though. **

**I don't know when you ca expect another update. I'm writing the next chapter at the moment. 'till then, ta-ta.**


	36. Soaked To The Bone

**A/N Nothing much to say . . . Except that this chapter may seem a bit random at the start, but I actually planned this bit ages ago.**

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE**

Sebastian rubbed his arms to try and get some warmth into them. It was _cold_ up here in the clouds. He wished he was back home. Or whatever passed for home. Just anywhere below ground, away from everyone up here, all of whom seemed determined to kill him, punch his lights out, or drive him insane.

He snuck a glance at the others, or what he could see of them. One was behind him, and the other two were up ahead. Then he dug a hand into his pocket and took out one of his knives. He gripped it hard, so as not to lose it, and held it close to his eyes.

This was the knife that Seth had taken from him at the lake, and Sebastian had then pick-pocketed from Seth to get it back. The same knife that Holly, Sarah and Trouble had used to cut themselves and the same one that had burned Seth's hand. Sebastian had wanted to examine it, but had forgotten about it until now.

He tried to remember where he had gotten it. It was decorated very nicely; carved designs shimmered in the dim light so that the mythical animals on the hilt and blade looked alive. Suddenly, he remembered. It had been his mother's, one of a pair that he had taken from his house on that morning that he's found them dead.

He scowled, in no mood for remembering _that_ at the moment. He was about the shove it back into its scabbard when he felt it vibrate in his hand and the point jerked downwards so violently he thought it would rip right out of his grip.

Mumbling several choice words under his breath, he held the dagger up to his face to examine it again. The griffin's wing outline, the chimera's tail, and several more lines were shining brightly, as if from within. Sebastian saw immediately that the lines formed a word in Gnommish.

He squinted and read it out loud. "_Luaidhe_." Suddenly, his fingers attached themselves to the dagger like they were welded on. Sebastian let out a strangled curse and tried to prise his fingers free, but it was impossible.

Then he felt his shield drop and he knew he was visible to the world. He cursed again and tried to shield, but almost passed out as what felt like a giant hand clapped him on the back of the head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the blurs move over to him to try and find out what was wrong.

At the moment, the dagger suddenly pointed itself directly downwards and shot forwards, down into the shimmering waters of the Caspian Sea, dragging a yelling Sebastian with it.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Trouble landed on the shore of one of the islands, and unshielded, turning to Sarah, who was staring pensively out at the ripples about twenty metres away that showed where Sebastian had plunged into the sea at full speed a few moments ago. Finally, she said "Did you see that too?"

Trouble nodded, completely confused. "He just . . . unshielded and dove. Did you hear him yelling?"

"Yes."

"I don't think he did it on purpose."

Sarah nodded thoughtfully. "He didn't _seem_ suicidal." Just then, Holly unshielded, looking livid.

"What in Frond's name did he just do?!"

"Well, I saw him unshield, and I flew over to him to see what was wrong." Sarah explained. "He was holding something. Then his arm that was holding the thing just shot downwards and the rest of him followed. But he was definitely yelling." Sarah said all this in that calm voice that drives hysterical people even more insane.

Holly took several deep breaths and said in a calm voice that belied how she was feeling "So our Protector was just dragged into a sea by some unknown magical object?"

Sarah shrugged. "Seems like it."

Trouble was thinking. "I saw the thing in his hand glinting, like it was made of metal. But only part of it."

"It was one of his knives." Sarah stated. The other two rounded on her and said unanimously "How do you know?"

"Because it just flew out of the lake and it's hovering over there." Sarah said, pointing.

Holly revved up her engine and said "You two keep watch.", and then flew out over the lake, careful to keep a safe distance between her and the knife hovering inconspicuously over the spot where Sebastian had disappeared.

She peered into the water, still rippling slightly. It was hard to see anything, with the sun having set just moments ago. Suddenly, she saw a dark shape moving in the water. She pulled upwards a bit, and then stopped, staring fixedly at the water. Then something floated to the surface. Holly dropped a bit and plucked it out of the water. It was a leather scabbard.

She winced and turned her head to yell back to shore, when Sebastian suddenly burst out of the water, spitting water and gasping for air. He grabbed Holly's arm to keep himself from going under again. She was almost pulled under herself, but the wings kept her just above the water.

"What are you doing?!"

Sebastian didn't seem to hear her, just kept saying excitedly "Come on, come on! You'll never _believe_ what I found. Come _on_!"

"What are you talking about?!"

Sebastian rolled his eyes and hit a button on her wings. They folded back into their box and he pulled Holly under. She opened her mouth to scream at him again, but shut it right before it was filled with water.

She opened her eyes after a few seconds under water and shuddered. The water was _freezing_. She tried to swim back up to the surface, but Sebastian still had a grip on her arm and he was swimming, pulling her downwards.

She looked around and saw that they were right beside a huge rock that was one of the islands. But the rock itself continued downwards as far as she could see. It was _massive_. Sebastian changed direction and pulled her towards a large rock formation jutting out from the island. He suddenly swam downwards again, and then swam up again. Now they were under the huge outcrop, which shielded them from the slight current and blocked out all view of the surface.

Holly looked up at the underside of the outcrop and nearly swallowed a mouthful of water in shock. There was a huge hole, stretching nearly two hundred metres across, in the underside of the outcrop. But the strangest thing was the shimmering blue force field stretching across the hole.

Sebastian pulled her towards it and their heads broke through the magical barrier. Holly felt a tingling sensation as her head and neck passed through it, then suddenly she was inhaling clean, fresh air. Holly took several more gulps of air before bothering to look around. Her jaw dropped again.

They were inside an enormous hollow room. It reminded her strongly of a Mud Man air hanger she'd seen a picture of in school. There was a large set of double doors in front of them. But the oddest thing about the room was its emptiness. There was literally nothing in it, except for the immense hole in the floor.

One of the huge doors opened and the two teenagers ducked lower in the water. Sebastian inhaled a mouthful of freezing cold water as he gasped. It was a skeleton, walking around like there was nothing wrong with it. It looked like a fairy skeleton, but it was easily five and a half feet tall.

"Sebastian!" Holly hissed. "That's a Creatlach Duine!"

"I know!"

"But they were wiped out three thousand years ago!"

"Guess at least one escaped."

"You think there's _more_?"

"The way our luck is going, there's a _load_ more."

The skeleton walked in, looked around, and then spoke. Its jaw bone moved, but it was still disconcerting to see a skeleton speaking. It had a surprisingly deep and melodic voice.

"Dom Physa, Immortal Guardian of the Pendant of Halifirien, and Commander of the Last Battalion of the Creatlach Duine, welcomes you to Cuan Rún. He bids you to gather your companions. But first he offers you, as all good hosts should, a meal and place to rest until dawn tomorrow, whereupon you shall commence your search. Follow the lights, and you shall find your quarters. Good night."

The skeleton turned to leave, then stopped at the door and said "Good luck." As if it was an afterthought.

The door slammed shut behind him. Sebastian broke the silence.

"Hospitable fellows, aren't they?"

**Reviewish Stuff:**

**Gus: Which question was that? I didn't see any question about Root and Doorn, just a few comments. "_You know, this fic could make it to Criminality's archives. That is, if you do a major rewrite_." Was there a compliment somewhere in there? ;) **

**Liaranne****: Good to have you back. Though you might have reviewed the last few chappies and I don't remember . . . I'm getting senile in my old age. You make a good bet, even if you're not too sure of yourself. I wasn't too srue of throwing so many new things into one chappie, but I guess it worked. I too have noticed the LOTR parallel, but I hoped the readers wouldn't, at least not until the army of elephants arrive in two chapters.**

**Just kidding.******

**BeatlesLover****: Did it seem random? Huh. Fab Four. I like it. Oh, they're definitely going to meet Dom. And as to what they talk about, well, we'll see. You contacted Gus? Nice to know I've achieved _something_ with this monster, if it's only changing people's attitudes about fangirls. 'tis nice to laugh. Here's a good joke:**

**What's the greatest worldwide use of cowhide?**

**To cover cows.**

**TheCheezHead****: OK, then. You're wrong. Guess again. I get annoying too, but by putting my CD player on really loud and not talking to anyone on long car journeys. My family is too social for my own good.**

**Mystic Weaver: Hello. I do great first impressions, in case you were wondering. Glad you like this monster. And don't worry about the social life, it's flexible. But it will be nice to explain why I wasn't answering my friends' emails, without making something up. See, the only people I actually know that are aware I'm writing this, are my siblings and my beta. I'm too insecure to tell anyone else. But never mind that. Thank you for all the nice compliments. **

**Holly Rox: Hey, Europe ROCKS! No John Kerry, that has to count for something. And yes, it is wet. Ireland's worse than England, though, so be happy. Glad I get a bit of sun now.**

**Dood**** Man James: Oh, God, don't tell me you're the James I know. Even if you do like my story a whole lot, which I appreciate very much. Wait, what are the odds that you're the James I know? Ignore me, I'm paranoid. If this is the best you've read, I don't think you've read many. Thank you.**

**Be good little humans and send a few cyber whatsits my way. Merci. **


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